Naruto Remake! A Sasuke Love Story
by LadyAmazon
Summary: A story dedicated to a friend of mine. It's a sasuke story. It's about a girl who is the last of her clan. She's put into Team seven. Ryoko, the OC, is filling in for Sakura. No Flamers! Sasukexoc and Gaaraxoc
1. Chapter 1

Hello! It's LadyAmazon! Yay! School's been over for awhile and i finally have time to write.

i'M ALSO KNOWN AS THE ONE WHO CAN'T FINISH A DAMN STORY! So you've been warned now...don't get too attach.

The next story I will be doing is a Sasukexoc story! It's dedicated to my good friend who is a Sasuke fan. I'm jealous that she can look and act like Sasuke very well. *pout* Anyway as she requested , i'm following the manga version as much as i can. (I warn you it may suck and I tend to not make sense when i write.)

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* * *

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_"No..." the little girl cried. She hold onto her teddy bear closer to herself and whimpered. She could hear the cries of the people fighting from outside. Glancing around her room she saw a figure approaching the door. She tried to herself hide in the corner of the closet more but couldn't. She then heard laughing. She ducked her head down burring it in her teddy bear, her midnight blue hair covering her purple onyx eyes._

_"Where is the girl?" She heard a man say harshly. _

_"N-not here!" She heard her mother say._

_"Oh really? Well then, I'll just have to make you tell me where she is!" She saw the shadow of her mother being thrown across the room through the crack in the closet door._

_'Papa…where are you?' the little girl sniffled as she clutched her teddy bear._

_"Where. Is. The. Girl?!" The man shouted again holding her mother by her hair. The little girl peeked through the crack in the door and saw the terrible shape her mother was in. Her mother severely cut and beaten…and she couldn't do anything to protect her because she was not a ninja. Only father was the ninja. _

_Suddenly there was a battle cry and the sound of metal clashing against each other. The little girl moved her face at a different angle to get a better view of what was happening. A small smile came to her face when she saw that her father had arrived to protect her mother. The man that beaten her mother was lying unconscious near the closet. His head rolled side to side, trying to shake off the dizzy spell. The little girl childishly stuck her tongue out at the unconscious man. 'Serves you right you big bully.'_

_She watched as her father cradled her mother. She pressed her hand against the door to open the closet, but as she did she noticed that while her father was preoccupied, he didn't notice the swarm of enemy ninjas fall from the roof. She gasped out loud and tried to warn her father, but her voice failed her. However when she gasped, an enemy ninja that was close to the closet heard her and walked over to her hiding place._

_"Found you!" He exclaimed as he ripped the door of the hinges. He dropped the door and grabbed her by the back of her shirt. "I got the girl! Burn the house and let's get out of here!" He yelled to the others._

_"Mommy! Daddy!" The girl cried, waving her arms and legs in attempt to get free. "Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!" She begged to her dead mother and dying father. Her father struggled to raise his head to speak to her, "Ryoko...grow strong. Live long and don't forget us...we'll be very proud of you..."_

_Tears streamed down Ryoko's face, "Daddy! Don't die!!"_

_

* * *

_

_Ryoko ran through the forest pushing branches and bushes out of the way. Her clothes occasionally got snagged; adding more rips and tears into her clothes. _

_Ryoko had been running for hours without stopping. She managed to get away from the guy that captured her when they burned her entire village to the ground. When the ninja dropped his guard to light a house that was when Ryoko ran and she kept running in fear._

_'I have to get away! I have to get away!' Ryoko chanted over and over to herself as she charged through a tall bush. Her leg snagged on a tree root and she fell to the ground. Shaken, she pulled herself up to dry her tear-stained and dirty face. Sniffing she huddled against a tree and tried to catch her breath._

_*Rustle. Rustle* _

_Ryoko flinched. "W-who's there?" She stuttered._

_The tall bushes parted and a young boy with dark blue hair and onyx eyes. He wore a dark blue shirt and gray shorts. (Kid Sasuke is so Kawii! .) He stepped out of the bushes to crouch in front of Ryoko. They stared at each other with curiosity. Sasuke raised his hand towards Ryoko, who immediately flinched, 'Is he going to hit me?'_

_Instead Sasuke gently placed his hand on top of her head and patted her consolingly._

_"Why are you crying?" He asked. "Are you hurt anywhere?"_

_Ryoko shook her head silently. "You're not going to hit me are you?"_

_Sasuke drew back slightly, "Why would I -?"_

_Then without a word, Ryoko ran off into the bushes leaving Sasuke on the ground very confused. Sighing Sasuke stood up and dusted off his pants. Then something on the ground where Ryoko was previously glinted in the sun, catching his attention. He bent over to pick it up. Dusting it off he discovered that it was a coin necklace a clan symbol on the back and the front was very faded. He squints his eyes to read it. "Ri…o…ko…? Ryoko?" He looked in the direction where Ryoko had run off to. "So…her name is Ryoko?" Pocketing the necklace Sasuke walked back home. "Just who is she?"_

* * *


	2. Chapter 2: Enter, Ryoko Kaneko!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. Hell if i did i would be rich!

All credit goes to the great Masashi Kishimoto!

I didn't proof read this Microsoft did, so whatever it overlooked is not my fault...C'mon! it's a lot to reread!

_

* * *

_Chapter: Enter Ryoko Kaneko!

Ryoko's eyes opened slightly, _'I haven't had that memory in a long time.'_ Ryoko rubbed her eyes tiredly as she shifted positions on the tree branch. _'The memory of my parents dying and that boy…'_ Ryoko looked out to see the sun rising over the never ending land of trees. "It's morning…" She whispered as she admired the sun rising. When the sun was high enough to her, she stood up on the branch with her hands on her hips. "Alright, time to get some breakfast and then off to the academy!" She flashed jumped out of the tree, landing gracefully on the ground like a cat and ran through the forest…through the training grounds for genin…through more trees… and swerved passed the sea of people who were going about their business. Finally getting tired of dodging people she flashed jumped from roof to roof. Occasionally she dashed on the houses that were connected. Coming to the edge of one of the buildings, Ryoko performed a flip to give her extra air time. While still airborne, she looked down a bit to see Sasuke Uchiha walking under her. She panicked because she couldn't stop herself in mid air. "Move, Uchiha!"

Sasuke looked up just in time to see her before she fell on him. Sasuke landed on his back and Ryoko landed on top of him. Her legs were straddling him, her chest was pushed against his, and their faces were so close that they accidentally kissed each other. While their lips her brushed against each other, neither of them moved for some time. Sasuke's eyes stared into Ryoko's and vise versa. After a few moments…they slowly pulled away from each other as if in a daze. However Ryoko came to her senses faster than Sasuke did and quickly drew back very embarrassed. She climbed off Sasuke and ran away covering her red face. Sasuke came back to reality too.

"Hey! Wait!"

But Ryoko didn't stop. In fact, she didn't stop until she got to the academy. She ran to the nearest girl's bathroom and locked herself in one of the stalls. She took deep breaths to calm herself down. _'I just kissed Sasuke Uchiha! But it was an accident! It doesn't count for anything!' _She rubbed her mouth hard. She jumped when she heard girls come into the bathroom.

"Let me borrow your make up! Sasuke just showed up and I have to look good!"

"Kya! Sasuke's so hot! I hope I get to be on the same team as him."

"I want to be on the same team as him!"

Ryoko pretended to gag. _'They will never make it as ninjas. Instead of focusing on looks and boys they should worry about training.'_

"Hey, did you see that Ryoko girl this morning?"

"Yeah, what was that freak running for? She runs around as if she really has somewhere important to go." One sneered as she applied some blush. "My dad told me that she's a tramp who lives in an alley."

The other snorted, "That seems suitable since she has a trashy attitude."

"Not only that, but she's some kind of monster."

Ryoko gritted her teeth. She remembered vividly that some adults kicked her around because they knew what was inside her. What made Ryoko mad was that she didn't know what kind of monster was inside her. All the adults seem to know about but her.

"Well she does have the looks to prove it."

Having enough Ryoko kicked the stall door open, scaring the two girls out of their wits. They turned about abruptly and paled when they saw Ryoko. Ryoko gave a death glare to them before turning away to leave the bathroom. Ryoko felt proud of herself as she walked to the classroom. When she opened the door, she saw that a few students had showed up. Mostly girls showed up than boys. _'Sasuke's fans no doubt.' _Ryoko thought to herself as she took her seat behind Sasuke.

Sasuke had saw that Ryoko had come into the classroom, but he didn't talk to her. He decided that what happened between them earlier should be left behind them. _'If she keeps what happens to herself then I won't have to hurt her.'_

Ryoko placed her head on her hand as she looked out the window, _'If he keeps what happens to himself then I won't have to hurt him.' _While looking out the window she could faintly see Naruto painting the Hokage Faces. She snorted to herself, _'That Naruto Uzumaki. He's so funny.' _

"May I know what's so funny, Ryoko?" Iruka sensei asked. Ryoko turned to look at Iruka. She didn't realize that class had started

"Nothing." She mumbled.

Moments after though, they heard laughter and shouts of shinobi telling Naruto to come back. Iruka sensei dashed out of the room to follow Naruto after telling everyone to stay seated. Of course after he left everyone stood up from their seats and started to talk and all the girls went near Sasuke.

Ryoko sat there minding her own business looking outside at the clouds until Shikamaru came over to talk to her.

"Hey, you knew that Naruto was out there, why didn't you say something?" He asked leaning back on his chair and looking at the ceiling.

"It's fun to watch Naruto do his pranks. I personally think the faces look better now. Besides they probably would've caught him whether I would've said something or not."

Before Shikamaru could reply, Iruka sensei came back with a tied up Naruto.

"LET ME GO!" Naruto yelled.

The whole class watched as Iruka sensei dragged a bound Naruto into the room and plopped him down in front of the class.  
Iruka glared at him. "Tomorrow all your classmates will pass the final and graduate from the ninja academy, but the last two times this day came around, you flunked every course you'd taken in the secret arts!" He yelled. "So you chose now for your stupid tricks!? You moron!"  
"Sir, yes, sir!" Naruto said sarcastically.  
Iruka's eye twitched angrily. "Today in class we'll be reviewing the art of transformation!" he said, gritting his teeth.  
"WHAT?!" the class yelled.  
"All you have to do is..."Iruka began, "Conjure a form that looks like me. Form a line!" Iruka instructed sternly.

Everyone did what they were told. Though there were a few grumbles and complaints. Ryoko manage to be right after Naruto and before Shikamaru. Ino and Sasuke both transformed into Iruka sensei successfully but Naruto... he changed into a naked girl! Iruka sensei had a nosebleed and Ryoko couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Naruto was punished, again and now it's Ryoko's turn.

"Ready Ryoko?" Iruka sensei asked.

Ryoko nodded and formed a single hand sign. "Transform!" she transformed into him and back. She turned on her heel to go back to her seat. As she walked past Naruto she whispered to him, "That was hilarious. If you want, I can help you with your transformation jutsu."

Naruto looked at her in shocked for a moment before grinning and replied, "Sure!"

*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~~~~~after the academy*~*~~~~~!!!!!~~~~*******

"Oi! Naruto!" Ryoko yelled out waving her hand. Naruto and Iruka sensei looked down and was surprised to see Ryoko. Naruto waved back and shouted hi. Ryoko moved back a few steps then ran and jumped up into the air, twisting her body and doing a flip before landing next to Naruto.

"Wow! How do you do that?! You have to teach me that!" Naruto said excitedly.

Ryoko smirked at Naruto and nodded, "What are you doing?" She asked glancing at the faces. "Cleaning your mess, huh?"

"Yeah..." Naruto said turning to clean the face again.

Ryoko scratched her head, as if deciding what to do. Iruka observed this from above and wondered what Ryoko would do.

Finally, she gave a small smile as she grabbed a rag to help him clean up the mess.

"Huh?" Naruto said surprised. "Oh! Y-you don't need to do that!" Naruto said to her.

"I want to do it." Ryoko said with a smile.

"...why are you helping me?" Naruto asked after a few moments of silence. Iruka sensei also became quiet, also wanting to know the answer to the question.

Ryoko became quiet for a moment then said softly, "I want to be your friend."

Both Iruka and Naruto were shocked.

Naruto grinned happily and continued working along side Ryoko while Iruka watch and, unknown to them all, the Hokage was watching from his ball and was pleased to see that Naruto had a new friend.

*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*Next Day*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*

"Okay, for your exam each one of you needs to create a doppelganger." Iruka-sensei stated. It was the day of the exam already. Anxiousness filled all the room. Only a few people remained calm. Of course, I wasn't one of them. "I'll call your names individually and you'll be graded by me and Mizuki-sensei."

"Why did it have to be doppelgangers?!" Naruto panicked, putting his head between his hands. "That's my worst technique ever! I'm so screwed!"

"You'll do fine, I know it!" Ryoko encouraged him. "Just relax and concentrate your chakra and do it."  
He nodded and smiled. Now it was her time to panic. _'I can't do this, I can't! I was never good with exams, this time won't be different!' _

"Ryoko Kaneko." Iruka-sensei called.

"I can't do this!" She cried.

"Then how do you expect me to do this?" Naruto asked, starting to panic again.

"Ryoko, your turn." Iruka-sensei called again.

"Okay, let's make a deal." Ryoko told Naruto, thinking fast. "If I pass, you try your hardest to pass, right? And if you don't pass I don't pass. Deal?"

"Deal." He agreed.

"Ryoko!" Iruka-sensei shouted.

"Good luck, Ryoko!" Naruto said as Ryoko walked out of the classroom and into another room where the students would be tested. Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei were sitting behind a desk with lots of Leaf headbands on it. She walked to the middle of the room and breathed deeply, trying everything to calm herself down.

"Ryoko, you may start." Iruka-sensei said, nodding with his head.

Ryoko did the hand sign, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" The familiar current of blue chakra flowed around as she concentrated to make the clones. When the smoke cleared Ryoko looked around to see three clones standing beside her. She scratched her head and smiled nervously. "Sooo… Did I pass?"

Iruka-sensei smiled. "You could've have done a little better. There are slight differences but they're barely noticeable. Be sure to improve on that."

Mizuki-sensei nodded and handed me a headband. Ryoko took it and stared at it for a minute.

"OH YEAH! I'm a ninja, baby! That's right!" She yelled, punching the air. The sensei's sweat dropped as she continued to cheer and dance out of the room.

As she danced in the halls she decided to wait for Naruto at the swings behind the academy. _'I'm sure he'll pass. He is an excellent ninja. He just has to show this to the world.' _Ryoko climbed the tree with a swing and sat in the branch, waiting for Naruto to come out. Ryoko stared at the sky and started to think about her past memories. She didn't even notice Naruto walking towards the tree until he sat on the swing. She grinned and jumped from the branch, landing in front of him.

"Hey, Naruto! Guess what? I did it!" She pointed to my headband. "How did you do?" Then she noticed something. "Hey, where's your headband?"

He looked away but I still could see the sadness in that deep blue eyes. Naruto sighed and said, in a low voice, "I couldn't do it. I didn't concentrate enough, my clone was worthless. I'm not a ninja."

Ryoko lowered my eyes and let her headband fall on the ground, "Well, a deal is a deal." She said with a confident smile. "If you didn't graduate, I won't. I'll give the headband back to Iruka-sensei."

"What? No, you can't do it for me!" He said, widening his eyes.

"Of course I can! Just watch."

"It's not necessary! Mizuki-sensei told me there's another way to pass!"

Ryoko immediately picked up her headband. "Another way? Then what are we waiting for? Let's do it! And I'll help you this time!"

He smiled and jumped off the swing, "Yeah! Let's do it!"

* * *

"I can't believe we're really doing this." Ryoko whispered. It was the middle of the night. Naruto and Ryoko had sneaked into the Hokage's house to take a secret scroll that Mizuki-sensei said that would make Naruto graduate. They were looking for this scroll, trying their bests not to wake up anyone.

"Hey, I think I found it." Naruto whispered back, showing her a huge cream colored scroll that he found.

"Great! Now let's get out of here before-"

"What are you doing in my house?" The Hokage asked, opening a door that supposedly leads to his room.

"Before this…" I said, smacking my forehead.

"Um…Hi Old man!" Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. "We were just… Well…"

"What are you doing with this secret scroll?" He asked suspiciously.

"We were…" Ryoko started.

"Harem no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, transforming in his girl naked version. The Hokage was sent flying backwards with a nosebleed like Iruka-sensei's. While the Hokage was knocked out they made a run for it. They ran to the forest where Mizuki-sensei told Naruto to wait. Naruto sat on the ground and Ryoko kneeled beside him. Eagerly, Naruto opened the scroll and started to read it.

"Let's see." Naruto said thoughtfully. "The first technique is… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Replication Technique). But I'm not good at that!" He cried.

"Think about it. If you master this technique Iruka-sensei will have to pass you for sure!" Ryoko encouraged.

Naruto grinned. "You're right! I'll show them!"

* * *

One hour had passed and Naruto was on the ground, panting heavily, but with a sincerely smile. He did it. Ryoko smiled happily at Naruto. But she soon frowned when she saw a shadow standing in front of Naruto. Her frown disappeared fast she saw who it was.

"Hi Iruka-sensei!" She greeted happily.

"Naruto. Ryoko." He said in a mix of anger, relief and nervousness.

"Oh man, we got caught." Naruto said, getting up. "And I only learned one technique!" Iruka-sensei seemed surprised after that statement.

"Hey, I'm going to show you a great technique, so you let me graduate if I can do it!"

"You were… training to graduate?" The teacher asked. Naruto nodded quickly. He turned to me. "What about you, Ryoko?"

"Well, I promised I would help Naruto no matter what, so here I am!"

"If I show you a technique from this scroll I can graduate, right?" Naruto asked.

"Who said that?" Sensei asked.

"Mizuki-sensei! He told me about the scroll and this place..."

Iruka-sensei's eyes widened at this. Something was not right. Before anyone could react Iruka-sensei pushed Ryoko and Naruto away. We fell on the ground as our teacher was stabbed by kunai knives.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto and Ryoko screamed in shock.

"I'm surprised you found out about this place." A voice coming from a tree said.

"I see. So that's how it is." Iruka-sensei said weakly.

Naruto and Ryoko looked over to the tree where the voice came from. Mizuki-sensei was there with a wicked smirk on his face.

'Why is he attacking Iruka-sensei?' Naruto and Ryoko wondered.

"Naruto, Ryoko! Give me the scroll." Mizuki-sensei ordered.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Naruto asked, looking from Mizuki-sensei to Iruka.

"Naruto, Ryoko. Don't let him have the scroll, no matter what." Iruka-sensei said pulling out the kunai trapped in his leg. "That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden techniques. Mizuki used you so that he could get a hold out of it!"

"Iruka is just afraid of you possessing that." Mizuki interrupted.

"What?" Naruto mouthed as he glanced at Iruka-sensei.

"What are you saying, Mizuki?" The teacher asked.

"I'll tell you the truth." Mizuki said.

"DON'T!" Iruka-sensei yelled.

"What's he talking about?" Naruto asked, looking at Ryoko worriedly.

"I have no idea." Ryoko said, also worried.

"A rule was created after the incident that occurred twelve years ago." Mizuki continued.

"A rule?" Naruto asked.

"…A rule that only the kids cannot find out about." Mizuki continued on.

"Why not? What rule is it?" Ryoko questioned.

"Stop it!" Iruka-sensei shouted.

"It's a rule not to say that Naruto is a monster fox!" Mizuki said. "In other words, you **are**the Nine-tailed demon fox who killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village!"

"STOP!" Iruka-sensei yelled once more.

Naruto was traumatized. The shock was too big for him.

_'Naruto couldn't be a monster fox. Sure, he had the whiskers marks and looked a little like a fox, but he wasn't a monster. He was just a normal kid (whatever "normal" is) like me. Right?'_ Ryoko thought, looking at Naruto in disbelief.

"You've been deceived by the village people all this time." Mizuki said. "Didn't you think it was weird for everyone to hate you so much?"

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Naruto muttered. His chakra began to spike around him.

"No one's ever going to recognize you! I bet even Iruka and Kari hate you!" Mizuki spats. "You'll never be accepted!"

"That's not true!" Ryoko shouted angrily. Naruto looked at her, astonished. "Naruto, you know it's not! You're my best friend and will always be! I don't care if you are a monster or not. For me you are just Naruto. My best friend, an excellent ninja, and the future Hokage of Konohagakure!" Ryoko declared with much confidence.

Naruto's eyes widened, "Thank you. Ryoko…" He whispered.

"Die Naruto!" Mizuki shouted, removing a large shuriken that was strapped to his back and threw it at them.

"NARUTO!" Ryoko yelled as he fell backwards. Naruto tried to escape, but he was too slow. "Naruto! Get down!" Iruka-sensei shouted.

Naruto did what he ordered instinctively. Ryoko closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was about to happen. But when she didn't hear anything, she opened her eyes.

Iruka-sensei was standing above Naruto with the shuriken trapped in his back. He protected him.

Naruto had a horrified look on his face. "W-why?" He asked in a low voice.

"Because you are the same as me." Iruka-sensei whispered. Naruto's eyes widened at this. "After my parents died no one never complimented me or recognized me. Being the bad student I was, I screwed up a lot during the class. Because I wanted to get everyone's attention. I couldn't get anyone's attention when I was a good student. So I acted like an idiot. It was tough… Right, Naruto? You were lonely, right? It was tough, right?"

Iruka-sensei literally cried.

Ryoko couldn't believe it. Her teacher and friend were exactly like her. Their parents also died when they were very young and had to grow up alone. People didn't acknowledge them when they cried out to them.

"I'm sorry Naruto." Iruka-sensei said, dropping more tears. "You didn't have to feel that way if I was more aware. But you found Ryoko." He glanced at me. "And she helped you. Didn't she?"

"Don't make me laugh!" Mizuki yelled. "Iruka has hated you since you killed his parents! He just wants to get that scroll back!"

Naruto frowned and turned his back to Iruka and he ran away.

"Naruto!" Iruka-sensei shouted.

Not saying a word, Ryoko ran after him. Fortunately, Naruto didn't avoid Ryoko and waited for her to catch up. They ran for a while before hid behind a tree to rest. Naruto was breathing heavily as he hugged the scroll tightly. He turned to Ryoko with sad eyes.

"Ryoko… You don't hate me. Right?" He asked.

"You know I don't." She answered, giving him a soft smile. "And I bet Iruka-sensei doesn't either."

He nodded, lowering his eyes, "What should we do now?"

"I wish I knew." She sighed.

"What good is there in protecting the one who killed your parents?" They heard a voice ask. "What happens if we let him live?"

"I'm not going an idiot like you get that scroll." Iruka-sensei's voice answered acidly.

"You're the idiot. Naruto is the same as me." Mizuki said evilly. "Anything is possible with that scroll. There's no way that Naruto, the monster fox, won't use its powers."

"Yeah, you're right…" Naruto and Ryoko gasped. "…if he was a monster fox." Their eyes widened. Now things were starting to make sense. "But Naruto is different. He's… He's an excellent student that I recognize. He's a hardworking, earnest, clumsy, and no one recognizes him. He knows the pain of others. He's not a monster fox. He is Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!"

Naruto was already crying when Iruka-sensei finished. Crying in happiness.

"What an idiot." Mizuki said. "Iruka, I said I would kill you later, but I take that back. Die now!" Mizuki rushed towards Iruka-sensei, throwing the shuriken. Iruka closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. Naruto and Ryoko ran in front of Iruka-sensei and hit Mizuki in the stomach, causing him to drop his shuriken and fall backwards.

He got up, anger in his eyes. "Damn you!" Mizuki shouted.

"If you _ever_ lay a finger on Iruka-sensei again..." Ryoko warned darkly.

"We'll kill you if you do!" Naruto completed just as dark.

"Talk while you can!" Mizuki said. "I'll finish two kids like you in a flash!"

"Try, jerk." Naruto defied. Ryoko grinned.

Together Naruto and Ryoko performed a single hand sign. "We'll do a thousand times more damage back to you!"

"Why don't you try if you can, you monster fox!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" They yelled together.

Mizuki and Iruka-sensei's eyes widened as they saw at least hundreds Ryoko and Naruto all over. They grinned in sync as Mizuki fell backwards in shock by how many clones surrounded him.

"What's the matter tough guy?" The 'Naruto's' asked.

"Yeah, I though you would beat us!" The 'Ryoko's' teased.

Mizuki-sensei stuttered in fear.

"Well, if you're not coming…" The 'Naruto's' trailed off getting ready to attack.

"We are!" The 'Ryoko's' declared attacking first, the 'Naruto's' followed in after.

Mizuki's screams could be heard in all Konoha. Soon after though, Mizuki lied unconscious and bleeding on the ground.

Naruto and Ryoko canceled the jutsu and the clones disappeared.

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Maybe we hurt him too much."

"You think so?" Ryoko asked, looking at the pathetic Sensei. She got a closer look at his battered face. "Okay, maybe you're right. But he deserved it!"

"Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah…" The teacher answered, looking at us somewhat awkwardly. "Naruto, come here for a second. I want to give you something." Naruto walked over to him. "Close your eyes." Iruka-sensei said and Naruto obeyed. Ryoko watched happily as Iruka-sensei removed his headband as well as Naruto's goggles. He handed me Naruto's goggles and tied his headband around Naruto's head.

"Sensei, are you done yet?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"All right, you can open your eyes."

"Congratulations, Naruto." Iruka-sensei said. "You graduated."

Naruto was astonished. Ryoko patted Naruto on the back, "You deserve this."

"All right, let's celebrate! I'll treat you two to ramen!" Iruka-sensei declared.

Naruto's eyes were filled with happy tears.

"Iruka-sensei!" He yelled, tackling Iruka-sensei to the ground.

"Ouch, that hurts!" Iruka-sensei said playfully.

"Ryoko, I'm a ninja now! Believe it!"

"We both are going to be the best ninja ever!" She shouted, punching the air. Naruto climbed off Iruka-sensei to hug her as well.

Her face turned blue in seconds. "Naruto… can't breathe… please…!"

"Oops." He sweat dropped. "Sorry."

"You should use that death hug of yours to kill enemy ninjas, you know that?"

They laughed it off as they raced to Ichikaru's. Iruka-sensei smiled as he ran after them. '_Naruto and Kari…' _He thought. _'You two will be great someday. Someday…'_


	3. New team survival test!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing.

All credit goes to the great Masashi Kishimoto!

I didn't proof read this Microsoft did, so whatever it overlooked is not my fault...C'mon! it's a lot to reread!

(By unanimous decision it was voted to have Sakura dead from my plot…but someone complained so I had to fit her in…But she's not going to be on Naruto's team. That just complicates things. I'm going to mention her, but she's not going to be all that involved.)

* * *

Chapter: The New team

Ryoko entered the classroom first, followed by Naruto. Ryoko tried to go to her seat but all of Sasuke's fangirls were in the way. Naruto sat with his head on the desk smiling since somehow he managed to graduate over night. Shikamaru walked by and asked why he was here, since the meeting was only for those who graduated.

Naruto points to his forehead protector and said, "See, see, see here Shikamaru? It's right here. I'm also a ninja starting today!" Naruto boast.

Ryoko sigh, knowing she won't be able to get to her seat for a while and went to a young girl with dark hair and white eyes looks at Naruto with a smile on her face. She is wearing a large jacket and her forehead protector around her neck. She is glad that Naruto was able to graduate.

Rayne went to her and nodded. "Hinata" She greeted.

The girl fumbled with her fingers and shyly replied, "H-hello Ryoko..."

For a while Ryoko stood waiting for all the girls to move so she could get to her seat, but she soon grew tired of waiting so she went and attempted to get to her seat.

"Oi. Can you all please move so I can get to my seat?"

None of them moved. Ryoko's eyebrow twitch and she focused chakra to her right. She then slammed her fist to the ground where all the girls are crowding her seat and blew them all away. The whole classroom watched in awe as she walked toward her seat calmly as if nothing happened.

"What was that, Ryoko?" Sasuke asked.

Ryoko smirked at him and asked, "What was what, Uchiha?"

Sasuke growled, "You know what I mean, what did you do to your chakra to do that?"

"Like I'd tell you." Ryoko said leaning back on her chair, pulling her headband from her forehead over her eyes. Sasuke turned back to look at the board... and to get clomped by his fangirls again. Just then, the door opened to see a pink hair girl with green eyes and a blonde hair girl with pale blue eyes entered the room, both panting.

"I made it first." The blonde, known as Ino said panting.

"Oh please! My foot was at least half a centimeter ahead of yours." The pink hair, known as Sakura said back. She then saw Sasuke and squeals his name, making Ryoko's ear hurt a little.

* * *

Unknown to them all, Sasuke and the others were being watched by the Third Hokage and other Jonin.

"Is this year's number one rookie, Uchiha Sasuke?"

The Third confirms that the boy they are watching is indeed Uchiha Sasuke.

"He's the last survivor of the Uchiha clan."

The crystal ball shows the girls arguing with Naruto.

"That's Naruto Uzumaki. The Nine-tailed fox."

The ball also shows Rayne sitting in her seat with her headband over her eyes.

"She's Ryoko Kaneko. She's this year's number one female rookie and the last survivor of her clan too."

The third confirms that to.

* * *

The scene then changes back to the classroom when some girls pushed Ryoko from her seat. She fell over her desk and landed next to Sasuke somehow. Growling, she turned to face him, "Control your fangirls, will ya?"

"Not my problem." Sasuke replied coldly.

Ryoko leaned closer to glare him head on. Sasuke did the same, not backing down. Accidentally Naruto hits Ryoko on the back, pushing her into Sasuke. "Don't back down, Ryoko!" He encouraged before he had seen what he had actually done when he pushed her. He had pushed Ryoko into a kiss with Sasuke. Everyone's jaws dropped at the spectacle. The classroom was dead silent until all the girls went into a frenzy and took their anger out on Naruto, because once again it was his fault.

Ryoko and Sasuke quickly pulled away from each other gagging.

"You idiot!"

"You're dead!"

Iruka sensei came into the classroom and everyone settled down and went back to their seats.

Iruka-sensei, "From this day forward, you are no longer mere students of ninjutsu, but full-fledged shinobi!" Small applause inserted. "You are all among the ranks of the shinobi, you are mere novices, lowest of the low. Your greatest challenges all lie ahead."

Ouch.

"…The next step is the assignment of the official duties to you all on behalf of our village. We will begin by dividing you into three-man cells. Each of which will be mentored by a Jonin, a more senior ninja…who will guide and coach you as you become familiar with you various assignments."

_'Cha! I'm going to be in a team with Sasuke!'_ Sakura thought to herself.

_'I want Sakura on my team! And Ryoko too! I'll take anybody else…except Sasuke!' _Naruto thought.

_'Three man cell? They'll all just get in my way.'_ Sasuke thought bitterly.

_'What? Three man cell? I don't want to be with any of Uchiha's fangirls... or him for the matter.'_ Ryoko thought.

"I made the selections so that each cell's abilities would be approximately equal."

"WHA-------T!!!" The class yelled.

"Alright, here are the teams..." Iruka-sensei listed and spoke the teams out loud.

"Squad 7. Uzumaki Naruto, Kaneko Ryoko…" At this Naruto and Ryoko shared a high-five while Iruka-sensei continued," …and Uchiha Sasuke." This time, the two groaned. Sakura as well as the rest of the girls in the class glared daggers at Ryoko.

"Iruka-sensei! Why do I, a great ninja have to be teamed up with a loser like him?!" Naruto yelled pointing to Sasuke.

"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted.

"Hn. Try and keep up, dunce." Sasuke said.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. Now I suggest that all of you eat lunch with your teammates and meet back here after lunch to meet your Jounin. You're dismissed." Iruka-sensei said and everyone started to leave.

*!~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~**~*~~**~*~

"Pff. I can't find Naruto and I'm _not_ going to eat with that... that raven cold first and second kiss stealing jerk." Ryoko mutters going outside just to see Naruto ambush Sasuke and come out transformed as Sasuke.

"What in the world?" Ryoko asked as she jumped through the window to see the real Sasuke tied up.

"Yeah. This has Naruto written all over it" Ryoko said as she stood over him.

Sasuke glared her dead on, "Just untie me!" he hissed.

"Okay!" Ryoko hissed back. "Man, you're so bossy! You could at least say please." Ryoko said as she kneeled down next to him to start undoing the knot.

"Where's that loser?" Sasuke asked.

"Who?" Ryoko asked struggling with a certain knot.

"You know who I'm talking about."

Ryoko smirked to herself, "I honestly don't know. You call a lot of people losers."

"You are even more annoying than him."

Ryoko finished untying him. Sasuke got up and rubbed his wrists, muttering curses under his breath.

"If its Naruto...you can probably find him wherever Sakura is." She told him tossing the rope aside. Sasuke didn't say anything. He just jumped out of the window to begin his journey to find Naruto. Ryoko followed him from far, just to make sure he wouldn't kill Naruto or something like that.

Sasuke ended up going to the resting place in the park across the academy. Fortunately the Naruto wasn't there. But Sakura was there. When Sakura saw Sasuke approaching she stood up, blushing and giggling.

"Sasuke-kun, you're such a shy guy!" She said.

Ryoko sweat dropped. _'What did Naruto do this time'_'

"Are you emotionally prepared? I am!" He ignored her and continued walking. "W-wait! Sasuke!"

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked, finally looking at her.

"Changing the subject again? Let's forget about Naruto! All he does is picking fights with you. He always comes between us!"

Ryoko twitched as Sakura continued to talk about Naruto. _'Who does she think she is?'_

"It's probably because he had such an irregular childhood and he was badly brought up!" Sasuke and Ryoko glared at her. _'She talks as if she knows what she's talking about.'_

"He's always doing selfish things! He doesn't answer to anyone, ever, and it's made completely selfish! If I did the kinds of things he gets away with, my parents would ground me for the rest of my life!"

_'That spoiled brat! She doesn't know anything about being alone!'_

Ryoko was ready to stand up for Naruto, but Sasuke spoke first.

"The solitude…" He whispered, looking at the ground.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"You can't even compare it to the level of your parents getting mad at you." The way Sasuke was talking…the pain in his voice…told that he knew what solitude felt like.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Sakura asked

He raised his head and gave her a glare that was so clod that Ryoko had chills. "You make me sick!"

These words seemed to hit her really hard.

Ryoko decided to put her words in, "If you think it's so easy living without your parents, why don't you try? Let's see you grow up without any parents to take care of you."

"W-what?!" She stuttered.

"That way, you'll understand how it feels! So before you start criticizing Naruto or anyone without parents…try putting yourself in their place!"

Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke looked at Ryoko. But it wasn't one of his death glares. It holding a different emotion...curiosity? Understanding? Agreement?

Ryoko looked away and sighed, "Let's just go. It's a waste of time to get someone like you to understand."

Ryoko walked past a shocked Sakura and an emotionless Sasuke and headed back for the Academy. Memories that she once suppressed began to resurface.

* * *

We had been waiting for hours for their sensei to come. Three. Long. Hours. And he still didn't show up. Ryoko sat next to Sasuke with her head down on the desk. Sasuke sat there quietly. Naruto was complaining about the teacher being late.

"He's late!" Naruto said for the thirtieth time. "Why are we the only ones still waiting? All the other teams have started their missions! Even Iruka-sensei's gone!"

Ryoko opened one eye to see Naruto standing on a stool to put an eraser in the door, so when the teacher entered it would fall on his head.

Naruto laughed madly, "This is what he gets for making us wait this long!"

"Hn. A Jounin is not gonna fall for such a stupid trick." Sasuke snorted.

"Who knows? It might be fun to watch anyway." Ryoko mutters as the door opened.

The sensei entered. Silver hair that's spiked at an angle, dark blue face mask and headband covering his left eye. (I'm pretty sure everyone knows what the great Kakashi-sensei looks like!) As the door opened wider the eraser fell on his head. For a moment four stood in an awkward silence.

As usual, Naruto broke it, "HAHAHAHA!" He laughed, pointing to the sensei. "He fell for it!"

Sasuke mumbled, "Is he really a Jounin?"

"He has the vest to prove it." Ryoko said.

The Kakashi-sensei picked the eraser on the floor and looked at his new students, "Um, how can I put this?" He asked. "My first impression of you is… You are a bunch of idiots."

Gloom lines appeared above their heads. That was a hard blow to their egos.

~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*on the roof*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Soon they were sitting on the steps of the roof, with Kakashi-sensei sitting on the support rails. From left to right, Ryoko, Sasuke, and Naruto.

"Now tell me about yourselves." Kakashi-sensei said out of blue.

"What should we say?" Ryoko asked.

The sensei shrugged, "Things you like, things you hate…dreams for the future…hobbies…things like that." He finished crossing his arms.

"Why don't you introduce yourself first, sensei? So we can see how it's supposed to work." Naruto suggested.

"Me?" Kakashi-sensei pointed to himself. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate…I don't feel like telling you that."

"Huh?" Ryoko and Naruto asked in unison.

"My dreams for the future…" He continued on, "Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies…I have lots of hobbies."

(That's the greatest Kakashi intro ever.)

"Well that was pointless. All he really told us was his name." Ryoko said.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "uh-huh."

"Okay, your turn." Kakashi-sensei said. "You on the right, you first."

Naruto grinned. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He said, playing with his headband. "I like instant ramen in a cup, but I like the ramen at Ichikaru's Iruka-sensei bought for me even more! I hate the three minutes you have to wait for the water to boil. My hobby is eating and comparing the different types of ramen! And my dream is to be the greatest Hokage! I'm going to make the entire village recognize me! Believe it!"

"Okay." Kakashi-sensei nodded. _'He grew up in an interesting way.'_ He thought.

"You now." He pointed to Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." He started. "I hate a lot of things…and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan…and destroy…a certain someone."

'Scary. I hope he doesn't mean me.' Naruto and Ryoko thought.

Kakashi-sensei nodded. 'Just as I thought.'

"The last one." He said.

"I'm Ryoko Kaneko." She started like everyone else. "I'm pretty much like Uchiha. I hate a certain someone. I like to read. My hobbies are training and wandering around the forests. My dream for the future…to kill the one who annihilated my clan and then restore my clan…"

"I see…" Kakashi-sensei said. 'I'm going to have to watch all three of them.'

"Well, it seems we have a lot of different personalities here. I like that. We're starting our first mission tomorrow."

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"It's a task that the four of us are going to do together." Kakashi-sensei replied.

"What, what, what, what is it?"

"Survival training."

"Survival training?!"

"What are we going to survive?" Ryoko asked.

"This is no ordinary training." Kakashi-sensei stated, not exactly answering her question.

"Then, then what kind of training is it?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi let out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Ryoko asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, if I say this, I'm sure you three are going to be surprised!" he said. His face became serious again. "Out of the 28 graduates only ten are going to become Genins. The other 18 will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy. In other words, this is a make-it-or-break-it – pass/fail test."

Ryoko's and Naruto's faces dropped. Sasuke looked kinda pissed.

"See? You four are surprised!" Kakashi said happily.

"No way!" Naruto shouted. "I went through so much trouble to be here!"

"Then why did we do the graduation exam?" Ryoko asked, super pissed.

"That?" Kakashi-sensei asked. "It just picks out those who are qualified to become a Genin."

"NANI?!" Naruto and Ryoko yelled in unison.

"Anyway, I'm going to determine whether you pass or fail tomorrow at the training grounds. Bring your ninja equipment and meet at 5:00 AM!" Everyone had nervous looks on their faces. Even Sasuke.

'I can't fail.' Ryoko thought. 'I have to become a ninja as fast as I can to avenge my clan…This is gonna be hard…'

"Now then, meeting over. Oh yeah, don't eat breakfast. You're going to throw up if you do." Sensei advised.

* * *

Ryoko grabbed her backpack with all her weapons inside and headed to the training grounds, feeling a little groggy.

As she approached the training grounds, she noticed that she was coming at the same time as Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke seemed more awake than the rest of them and Naruto looked as if he was sleepwalking. At least he's dressed and here.

"Good morning..." Ryoko greeted tiredly.

"Hey…" Naruto managed to say with a yawn.

Sasuke didn't say anything as they approached each other at the appropriate spot. So they stood there in silence...doing nothing…nothing but waiting…

The sun soon came higher and it soon got brighter out. Naruto had yawned out the rest of his sleep. Sasuke stood with his back facing everyone. And Ryoko watched the sky.

"Morning everyone." A familiar voice greeted. "Ready for your first day?"

"HEY, YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Ryoko yelled, pointing accusing fingers at Kakashi-sensei.

"A black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way." He explained.

Ryoko and Naruto glared daggers at him.

Kakashi realized and cleared his throat. "Well, let's move on." Kakashi sensei walked towards a log and set an alarm clock on it. "This alarm is set to noon." Then he pulled out two small silver bells on red string. "Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get them by noon then you go without lunch…"

"Nani?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"…you'll be tied that log and watch me eat lunch in front of you."

Their mouths dropped.

'That's harsh!' Ryoko thought holding her grumbling stomach. 'He told us not to eat to make it harder!'

'So that's why…' Sasuke thought.

Naruto held his face, crying.

"But wait…why only two bells?" Ryoko asked.

"Well that way only one of you gets tied to a post and disqualified for not completing the assignment." Kakashi-sensei said. "That person will go back to the Academy. Then again all three of you could flunk out too. You can use any weapons including shuriken. You won't be able to get this unless you have the will to kill me."

"Not that I doubt you or anything…" Ryoko started, "…but do you think that's wise?"

(Personally now that I think about it…what person in their right mind would even consider giving 12 year olds sharp ninja weapons and encourage them to us 'em?!)

"Yeah, you couldn't even dodge an eraser!" Naruto said, laughing from the memory.

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links." Kakashi said coolly. "Just ignore the guy with the lowest score." Naruto glared at him. "We're going to start after I say 'go'."

Naruto's eyes turned white in anger as he took a kunai and charged to Kakashi-sensei. Then in a sudden blur…Kakashi was behind Naruto, holding his head with one hand and holding the kunai against his neck with the other hand.

"Don't get too hasty." He said playfully. "I didn't say 'go' yet." He released Naruto and everyone took steps backwards not taking their eyes off him.

_'So this is a Jounin…'_ Sasuke thought with a frown.

'With that speed we'll be in a whole lot of trouble…' Ryoko thought. 'it's gonna be a little more difficult than I thought…'

"But it looks like you have the will to kill me now so..." Kakashi-sensei said before chuckling, "...how can I say this? I think I'm actually starting to like you guys."

They smiled at the small praise.

Then Kakashi-sensei got serious again. "Get ready…And...Go!"

All three of them jumped away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~***************~~~~~~~~~~*******

Kakashi-sensei stood by the river alone as he spoke to his team out loud, "Ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively…"

Ryoko peeked through the branches of the trees. She found Sasuke in a tree next to hers and Naruto- her eyes widened. _'Oh no, he didn't.'_ She thought in disbelief. _'Please tell me he didn't just-' _

"Let's have a match fair and square!!" Naruto shouted, standing right in front of Kakashi-sensei.

_'He did.'_ Ryoko couldn't help but smack her face. _'That dunce.'_

Sasuke noticed it and raised an eyebrow at Ryoko. Ryoko noticed and shook her head.

Kakashi-sensei stared at Naruto with a sweat drop on his head, "Hey, aren't you a little weird compared to the others?" He asked.

"The only thing weird here is your hairstyle!" Naruto snapped back angrily. He ran towards Kakashi-sensei, but stopped when the Jounin put one of his hands in his ninja pouch, reaching for something.

"Ninja technique number 1: Taijutsu. I'll teach you that first." Kakashi-sensei said.

An interrogation mark appeared on Naruto's head. _'Isn't Taijutsu how a ninja fights hand-to-hand without weapons?'_ He asked himself, staring curiously at Kakashi's pocket. _'But is he going to use a weapon?' _He waited for a moment and Kakashi finally took out what he was looking for. (You all know what it is! XD)

"A book?" Naruto asked, confused.

"What's the matter?" Kakashi asked, bored. "Come and get me."

"But, uh…" Naruto stutters. "Why did you take out a book?"

"Why? To find out what happens in the story, of course. Don't worry about it. It's the same whether I read this or not." Kakashi-sensei said.

This got Naruto mad. He clenched his fists and charged to Kakashi-sensei, screaming. He tried to punch him in the shoulder, but the sensei blocked easily. He didn't even take the eyes out of the book! Naruto tried a kick, but Kakashi-sensei bent down and avoided it. The blond ninja went to punch him again, when he realized Kakashi-sensei wasn't there anymore.

"Huh?" He asked dumbly.

"A ninja should not let the enemy get behind him multiple times, idiot." Kakashi-sensei said, appearing behind Naruto. He did a quick hand sign.

_'His hand posture is…The seal of the tiger?'_ Ryoko questioned herself.

_'That seal is for fire jutsu.' _Sasuke thought. _'He's not just toying with Naruto…he's going to demolish him…'_

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu!!" Kakashi-sensei yelled as he pulled back and took effective aim.

Naruto's face widened in horror at what was about to come. Kakashi rammed his fingers into…um…his hiney….But with incredible force!

"A Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi-sensei finished.

The force of the ninjutsu sent Naruto flying towards a river. Ryoko lowered my head, feeling really sorry for my Naruto. _'He had just poked Naruto's butt! That's way too humiliating…'_

"Two idiots." Ryoko heard Sasuke mutter.

Kakashi-sensei opened his perverted book and started to read again. Then unexpectedly, two shuriken were thrown from the water in Kakashi-sensei's direction. Even though he was reading, Kakashi-sensei caught the two shuriken with ease. Naruto got out of the river, completely soaked, coughing a little of water. Kakashi lowered his book a little to look at him.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "You won't get any lunch if you don't get a bell by noon."

"I already know!" Naruto yelled angrily before making a familiar hand sign. "Shadow Clone jutsu!!"

Seven doppelgangers of Naruto appeared and charged towards Kakashi-sensei.

_'His best technique. I should've known he would use it sooner or later.'_ Ryoko smiled.

"Great technique, but I don't think you can maintain it for very long. You can't beat me with this jutsu."

That's when he felt something grabbing his back. "What?! He got me from behind!" Sensei exclaimed in shock.

Ryoko and Sasuke gasped in shock.

"A ninja shouldn't let the enemy get behind him, right, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, holding the sensei by his arms while his replications advanced.

Six shadow clones grabbed Kakashi's legs so he wouldn't move. The last one jumped and aimed a punch on the Jounin's face.

"This is for nailing me in the butt earlier!!"

In one moment, Kakashi-sensei was there, but then in the next instant Naruto's shadow cloned had punched another Naruto Shadow clone that was in Kakashi's place. Naruto blinked in confusion, trying to understand what had happened.

'Substitution Technique.' Ryoko concluded.

"YOU MUST BE KAKASHI-SENSEI! YOU TRANSFORMED, DIDN'T YOU?!" He yelled, pointing at the replications. Ryoko shook her head as she watched all the Naruto's fight each other trying to find the real Kakashi-sensei.

After some time he finally had the great idea of undoing the jutsu. The clones vanished in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared only Naruto was standing with bruises all over his face. He looked around for Kakashi-sensei until he saw something shining in the grass. Naruto's expression transformed in his famous fox grin.

"A BELL?!" He yelled surprised. "He must've been in a hurry and dropped the bell!" Naruto ran towards the bell and stuck out his hand to grab it when a rope tied his feet and turned him upside down. "WHAT'S THIS?!"

"Of course it was a trap." Sasuke whispered. "That Jounin doesn't let down his guard…not even for the fool Naruto."

"Yeah…" Ryoko whispers back. "What are we going to do?"

Kakashi-sensei walked towards Naruto and picked the bell with a sigh, "Think before you use a jutsu…or else your opponent will use it against you."

Naruto sighs sadly as Kakashi took the bell away.

"Oh and also…" Kakashi tossed the bell and then held it with a smile, "If the bait is obvious don't take it."

_'Something is not right.' _Ryoko thought. 'He's a Jounin…much stronger than us. He's too much for me or Uchiha. We can't face him alone…' Then it hits her. 'So we'll face him together! That's it! Teamwork! Duh, I can't believe I didn't realize it before!' She smiled to Sasuke as quietly as she could to talk to him about my plan.

He glared when he saw her coming towards him.

"What do you want?" He whispers angrily.

"Listen, I have a plan!" she whispers "We can't do it alone. If we work together maybe we'll get a bell! So we need to talk to Naruto."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No, you'll just get in the way." Sasuke said, jumping to another tree.

He took out some kunai and shuriken and threw at Kakashi. During his lecturing Kakashi-sensei didn't have time to defend himself as the shuriken and kunai embedded themselves into his neck.

Naruto's mouth dropped. "Ahh! He just got blasted by shuriken!" He yelled, shaking his arms desperately. "Are you out of your mind Sasuke?! You went too far!"

And then the show ends with Kakashi-sensei falling backwards….


	4. You Fail! Actually you pass!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. All credit goes to the great Masashi Kishimoto! I didn't proof readthis... Microsoft did, so whatever it overlooked is not my fault...C'mon! it's a lot to reread! But to my defense my dear Sasuke friend...this took a lot longer to update than i should because...i was watching and listening to Jrock music...Sexy people i swear!

An Cafe, Alice nine, SuG, NEWS, Miyavi, Gackt, Dir en Grey, On/Off, Girugamesh, MUCC, L' Arc~en~Ciel, , and The GazettE!

All sexy japanese men!! If you don't know who they are do a frickin' Google search!

anyway that's my excuse -- i mean reason!!

Mucho respect for Railey Baragon for being the first reviewer. Railey digs Ryoko and I promised more Ryoko action and some of my action in the mix. Yeah people it won't be much of a story to me unless I put a few things in between the lines…literally!

* * *

Chapter : You Fail! (actually you passed!)

There was a cloud of smoke and a log took his place. Sasuke's eyes widened and he clenched his fists in anger. Kakashi-sensei probably had determined his localization from the attack. Ryoko watched on as Sasuke fled from the trees and she was sure that wherever Kakashi-sensei was, he followed Sasuke.

Ryoko crossed her arms and frowned, unhappily. _'That serves him right.'_ She thought childishly. _'I can't believe I asked that stupid jerk to cooperate with me! But I'm sure Naruto will hear me._' When she was sure Kakashi-sensei wasn't around she jumped from the tree and walked towards Naruto. He was still tied upside down, muttering something.

"'Ninjas need to think beyond the normal'!" He mocked.

"Need help?" She asked, ready to reach out a kunai.

"Hi Ryoko!" Naruto said, grinning. "No, I can do it!" He took a kunai out of his pocket and started to cut the rope.

_'That's not going to end well.' _"Naruto, if I were you I wouldn't do-"

BUMP. He fell.

"OUCH!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his head.

I kneeled beside him, "You okay?" He nodded. "Great. Look, I think I know how to-"

"Sorry, Ryoko, you tell me later." Naruto cut me off. "I need to get that bell!" And with that he ran away. Ryoko stared blankly at the ground for a minute till she finished absorbing what happened. She blinked twice before shouting

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO COOPERATE IF NOONE WANTS TO WORK TOGETHER?!" She yelled, waving her arms in frustration.

She sighed, trying to calm down. _'Okay, I still can do it. I'll just ask Uchiha again_. If it was any other normal day I would do this myself…but I do need his help.'

She shivered as she jumped through the trees and bushes. Her senses went alert when she felt a presence. She quickly stopped and stood her ground.

"Ryoko Koneko, top female of the ninja academy and the last survivor of the Koneko clan. I wonder why you didn't charge out at me when I was done with Naruto earlier." Kakashi said from above, hanging upside down from a tree branch.

She merely shrugged. "You had your guard up?"

A light smirk appeared from under Kakashi's mask, "Are you ready to fight?" He asked jumping down and taking out his book again.

"No." She stated, catching him off guard.

"Wha? Why not?" He asked confused.

Ryoko stood in a thinking stance, "As much as I would like to fight you right now I have to get some help." She then smirk and threw a kunai. He dodged it easily as Ryoko expected. She did it to buy herself some time while she ran away to find Sasuke.

She had almost given up until she saw a blue blur. Stopping quickly, she turned around and jumped out of the tree.

She glanced at the ground and right there a head above the ground.

"Uchiha?"

"Ryoko?"

(I tell ya his face is so adorable when he's confused.)

Her face was in a mix between confusion and humor. Amused, she crawled over to the 'head' and tapped it.

"Is it real?" She asked out loud.

"Of course I'm real!" The head shouted.

_'That's Uchiha alright...Thank you karma'_ She thought to herself before asking, "What happened to you?"

He didn't reply but turned his head away slightly.

She sighed heavily before taking out a kunai and began digging around his neck.

"Listen, you know that Kakashi-sensei is really strong and we can't beat him by ourselves. We're both the top rookie in our class; we can work together and get the bells." She said as she unearthed his hand. Putting the kunai down, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out, "Well, how about it?"

"No." Sasuke said while brushing dir off his clothes.

"Why not?! You know we can't beat him on our own!" She yelled in frustration

"Last time I touched a bell..." He told her.

"So what? You'll probably get one if we work together."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a moment…

"There's little time left until noon." He said. "I'm going." He started to walk away.

Ryoko didn't want to say this but she felt it was probably the only way to get him to listen to her, "You know…" She started, causing Sasuke to stop. "You won't be able to accomplish anything unless you relay on someone…Some missions are too big for you to accomplish on your own…I think that's what Sensei is trying to teach us."

"I'm an avenger. I must become stronger than him. I don't have time to stumble here."

"You can become stronger if you…"

Before Ryoko could finish they heard the alarm clock go off.

"Damn it." Sasuke cursed. "I wasted my time talking."

Ryoko silently cursed to herself too.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Naruto?! Why are you like that?" Ryoko asked as she saw Naruto tied in the middle pole. He gave me a guilty smile, but didn't answer.

"Your stomachs are growling, uh?" Kakashi-sensei asked, appearing behind them. "By the way, about the results of the training… None of you needs to go back to the Academy."

"Really?!" Ryoko exclaimed, surprised.

Sasuke smirked

"So does that mean the three of us…?" Naruto asked squirming.

"Yeah." Kakashi-sensei answered with a smile. "You three are being dropped from the program! Permanently! Ryoko, you did figure out, but you still didn't get the others to help you."

Naruto's mouth dropped, shocked. Sasuke glared at the sensei.

An interrogation mark popped above my head, "But- they were being arrogant butt heads!"

"Why did Ryoko pass?" Naruto asked.

"She was the only one who understood the point of the training." Kakashi-sensei answered.

"She did? Wasn't it taking a bell?" Naruto asked.

Apparently Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He took out a kunai and charged blindly to at Kakashi-sensei. In a second, Kakashi-sensei was sitting on Sasuke's back, his foot stepping on Sasuke's head and his left hand holding Sasuke's kunai hand behind his back.

"See? You're just kids." Kakashi-sensei calmly stated. "You think being a ninja is easy?" Kakashi-sensei asked. "Why do you think we're training by breaking up into groups?"

When no one answered Ryoko decided to say the answer.

"Teamwork." She said. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at her with their eyes widened. Kakashi-sensei nodded, "That's right. If all three of you came at me once, like Ryoko was saying, maybe you could've gotten a bell."

"But why do we need to use teamwork when there are only three bells?!" Naruto asked. "If three people work hard to get it one person will have to bite the bullet! A group conflict will occur instead of teamwork!"

"Of course. This task tries to put you three against each other. The situation was set up to reveal which of you would set aside your individual interests and propose to the others to work together for the greater good."

Everyone digested the information. Finally getting some understanding. But Sensei was not done!

Naruto!" Kakashi-sensei called out. "Ryoko tried to talk to you about her plan, but you decided to cheat and you ignored her! She even exposed herself to help you and yet you were worried about doing everything by yourself."

Naruto lowered his eyes and murmured "I'm sorry" to Ryoko. She returned a smile.

Kakashi-sensei turned his attention to Sasuke. "Sasuke…you were the worst. You were the first Ryoko tried to team up with, even though she dislikes you. You declined because you thought she would just get in the way! She dug you out but even after that you didn't think about teamwork!"

Sasuke looked at Ryoko with an even stare. Ryoko met his stare then looked away.

"Missions are done in groups." Kakashi-sensei continued. "It's true that ninjas need to developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important. An individual action that disrupts teamwork will result in danger or even death of the teammates. For example…" He took Sasuke's kunai and held it against Sasuke's neck. "Ryoko! Kill Naruto or Sasuke's going to die!"

Naruto's eyes widened with panic and he looked to Ryoko, then to Sasuke, then to Kakashi-sensei, then to Ryoko.

"I wouldn't even think about it…no matter how annoying you may be." She whispers.

Kakashi-sensei slowly put the kunai away.

Naruto sighed in relief, "Oh, you surprised me…"

"After getting someone taken as a hostage you will be faced with a difficult decision and someone will die." He said, getting up and finally letting Sasuke go. "In every mission, you put your life on the line."

Sasuke stood up looking extremely pissed.

"Look at this." Kakashi-sensei said, walking towards the strange black stone in front of us. "The numerous names carved into this stone. All these names are those praised as heroes in this village."

"I like that! I like that!" Naruto declared. "I've decided I'm going to have my name carved into that! A hero! I'm not going to die a useless death!"

"But they're not normal heroes." Kakashi-sensei said.

"So what kind of heroes are they?"

The sensei stood in silence.

"Come on! Tell me!" Naruto insisted.

"Those who were K.I.A."

"K.I.A?"

"Those who were Killed In Action." Ryoko explained sadly.

Naruto's expression dropped. Ryoko stared at the ground thinking about how many names were there. How many people died to protect the village?

"This is a cenotaph." Kakashi-sensei said. "The names of my friends are carved in here as well." A short heavy silence filled the place. Then Kakashi-sensei turned to us. "I'll give you one more chance. However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher after the lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up for the challenge. But don't let Naruto eat." Naruto glared at the sensei. "This is punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat lunch early. If anyone feeds him the person will immediately fail. I'm the rule here, got it?" Before anyone could answer he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

"I'm okay even if I don't eat! I'm okay!" Naruto told himself for the hundredth time. His stomach growled. "Okay…"

Ryoko couldn't help but snicker a little. She smiled and held out her lunch box.

Naruto blinked, "But, Ryoko…you'll get trouble!"

"I feel guilty eating in font of someone who can't eat. I'm not letting my teammate starve to death." She answered.

Naruto's eyes widen with shock when he saw Sasuke extended his lunch too.

"Here." He said.

"B-but Sasuke-kun…" Naruto stutters.

"Ryoko is right."

"I am?" She asked, surprised by the small praise.

"If Naruto doesn't eat he'll only be a burden." He explained.

Naruto's eyes widened and started to shine, "Thanks…"

"You don't need to thank us just hurry up and eat." Sasuke said.

"Um… But…"

"I'm only going to do it once, you understand?" Ryoko picked up some rice with her chopsticks and shoved them into Naruto's mouth.

"I understand!" Naruto said as he happily ate.

Sudden a cloud of smoke popped in front of them revealing Kakashi-sensei!

"YOU THREE!" Kakashi-sensei yelled. Naruto started to scream his head off. Ryoko and Sasuke stood ready.

"You broke the rule. Are you prepared for the punishment?" The sensei asked as he performed hand signs. Suddenly of dark clouds blocked the sun. Rumbles of thunder sounded off for dramatic effect.

"Any last words?" Kakashi-sensei asked when he performed the final seal.

"B-but…" Naruto stuttered. "But you said… That's why the three…"

"We're a three man team, right?" Sasuke spoke up.

"When we fed Naruto we were working together!" Ryoko added.

"Yeah, yeah! Believe it!" Naruto yelled desperately. "The three of us are one team!"

"You three of you are one team, eh?" Kakashi-sensei asked, walking towards us.

"You pass." He then stated with a smile.

Their mouths dropped slightly.

"Nani?" Ryoko asked, unbelieving.

"You. Pass." He smiled under the mask.

"Pass? Why?" Naruto asked.

The sky started to clear as Kakashi-sensei spoke, "You three are the first. People I had previously were blockheads who just listened to what I said. Ninjas need to think beyond the normal. In the world of ninjas, those who break rules are called scum. But those who don't take care of their friends are even worse scum."

Ryoko grinned. Naruto looked like he was about to cry. And Sasuke, as usual, just smirked.

"He's… He's kind of cool…" Naruto said with teary eyes.

"The training ends here." Kakashi-sensei announced. "Everyone passes. Team 7 will be doing missions starting tomorrow!" He gave them the thumbs up.

"Yeah!" Ryoko exclaimed throwing her arms in the air.

"We did it! We did it! We're ninjas!" Naruto yelled. "Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!"

"Let's go home." Kakashi-sensei said as he started to walk away. Ryoko and Sasuke nodded and followed him. Naruto tried to move, but he was still tied…

"Hey! HEY! DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!"

"Just kidding!" She said as she turned back to untie him.

Once Naruto was free they high fived, "Beware world!" Naruto shouted, pointing forward. "Uzumaki Naruto and Koneko Ryoko are ninjas now! Believe it!"


	5. The Bridge Builder

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. All credit goes to the great Masashi Kishimoto! I didn't proof read this... Microsoft did, so whatever it overlooked is not my fault...C'mon! it's a lot to reread!

Thank you Riley Baragon for Reviewing again. I started to listen to NIGHTMARE and Abingdon Boys School. And i loves them alot! ^.^

* * *

Part 8 – The Bridge Builder!

Ryoko adjusted the mike's frequency and waited for the others.

"This is Sasuke. Arrived at point B."

"This is Ryoko. Point C."

"… This is Naruto! Arrived at point A."

"You're too slow, Naruto." Kakashi-sensei complained. "Okay, Team 7… The target has moved! After it!"

They nodded and ran towards it. The target stopped and they hid behind the trees and made no sudden movements.

"Okay, he's there." Naruto informed.

"What's the distance to the target?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Five meters. I'm ready to go." Naruto said.

"I am too." Sasuke said.

"Me too." Ryoko said.

"Okay…" Kakashi-sensei hesitated before saying, "GO!"

They jumped forward and Naruto grabbed the brown cat. The cat started to scratch him all over the face.

"Does it have a ribbon on its right ear?" Kakashi-sensei's voice echoed from the mike. "Is it our target, Tora?"

"It's our target for sure." Sasuke confirmed as the cat stomped Naruto's face on the ground. "I HATE CAAAATS!!!" Naruto yelled.

Ryoko snickered and grabbed Tora, stopping her from killing Naruto. The cat calmed down a little and gave up on escaping.

"Okay." Kakashi-sensei said. "Operation: Capture Tora the Lost Pet is complete."

"ISN'T THERE A MORE EXCITING MISSION WE CAN WORK ON?!" Naruto yelled with at the top of his lungs.

* * *

"Oh, my cutie Tora-chan! I was so worried about you!" The fat lady said, crushing the poor cat in a hug.

They were back to the Academy, giving the Hokage our mission's reports and waiting for a new one. Preferably a one that didn't involve lost cats.

"Wow." Ryoko whispered, glancing at the lady. "I can't help but feel sorry for the cat."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked. "It's getting what it deserves!"

"No wonder it ran away." Sasuke said with a sigh.

"Now then, Kakashi's team 7 mission is…" The Hokage said, reading a list. "Baby-sit for the council. Grocery shopping at the neighboring town. Helping dig up potatoes at-"

"NO!" No need to say that yell was from Naruto.

"No thanks to all of those!" He made crossed his arms, making an 'x' in front of him. "I want to do a more exciting mission! Choose something else!"

"Idiot!" Iruka-sensei shouted, standing up. "You're still a novice ninja! Everyone needs to start with easy missions to gain experience!"

"But we've only been doing dumb missions lately!" Naruto yelled.

"How can we gain experience babysitting?!" Ryoko asked.

Kakashi-sensei bopped Naruto's and Ryoko head, causing them to fall face first on the floor.

"Cut it out." He ordered.

"That HURT!" Ryoko yelled crying anime tears.

"It looks like I have to explain to you what missions are." The Hokage said patiently. "Listen, a lot of clients come to this village everyday. They request things from babysitting to assassinations. On the request list, a variety of requests are listed on it and they are separated into ranks A, B, C and D, according to difficulty. In this village, we separate people into Jounin, Chunnins and Genins, according to their abilities. We, higher officials, assign missions to ninjas with the appropriate abilities. And if we complete the mission, we receive a fee from the client. You have all become Genin just recently, so D ranked missions are best for you. Understand?"

"I think I'm going to order miso ramen today, what about you?" Naruto asked Ryoko.

"I feel like a chicken, but maybe-"

"Listen!" The Hokage shouted angrily, interrupting their "interesting" conversation.

"I'm sorry." Kakashi-sensei said, rubbing the back of his head.

"You always lecture me like that!" Naruto complained, facing the Hokage. "But I'm not the kid who used to pull pranks anymore!"

"I'm going to get scolded for that later…" Kakashi-sensei mutters.

The Hokage discretely smirked, "Okay, I understand." He said, causing us to wide our eyes. "If you insist, I'll allow you take on a C ranked mission. It's to escort a certain person."

"Really?" Naruto asked eagerly. "Who? Who? The feudal lord? Or a princess?"

"I'll introduce him now." The Hokage said, smirking a little more. "Can you please come in now?"

The door behind them slid and opened, revealing an old man with a towel around his shoulders holding a sake bottle. (c'mon, ya'll know who it is. Seriously people do a Naruto Google search! You know the characters!)

"Nani?! They're all kids!" He yelled. The man rose the sake bottle to his mouth and drank a bit. "Especially the midget with the idiotic look on his face."

"Hahaha!" Naruto laughed, putting his hands on the hips. "Who's the midget with the idiotic look on his face?"

Sasuke and Ryoko stood next to Naruto. Three lines appeared above their heads to measure their height. Sasuke was the tallest, then Ryoko, then Naruto.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He yelled raging his fists. Kakashi-sensei held him back from attacking the old man.

"Wrong. No killing the old man you've been assigned to protect." He said with a sigh.

"I am the bridge building expert, Tazuna." The man introduced himself. "Once I have returned to my country I'll have all of you protect my life with yours while I complete the bridge."

* * *

(Village gates)

"All right!" Naruto yelled, throwing his arms up, "Let's do it!"

"What are you all excited for?" Ryoko asked.

"Because I've never gone outside the village before!" Naruto said, looking around eagerly.

"I guess it is the first real mission that we've received that's outside the village." Ryoko stated, understanding why he's excited. She's kind of excited herself.

"Hey, will a kid like this really be capable of this mission?" Tazuna asked, pointing at Naruto.

"I, a Jounin, will be accompanying you. There's no need to worry." Kakashi-sensei assured him.

"Hey, geezer!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Tazuna. "Don't underestimate ninjas! I'm a great ninja! I'm the elite ninja who will receive the title of Hokage one day! The name is Uzumaki Naruto! Remember this!"

"Hokage is the village's number one ninja, right?" Tazuna asked, drinking more sake from his bottle. "I don't think a guy like you can become one."

"Hey, shut up, old geezer!" Ryoko snapped. "Naruto can and will become Hokage! He is training hard for it!"

"And when I do, you'll have to acknowledge me!" Naruto added.

Tazuna chuckled and shook his head, "I wouldn't acknowledge you even if you become Hokage." He said.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Naruto yelled and tried to attack him again but he was held back by Kakashi-sensei, as usual.

"I said NO, you little dunce." The sensei told us in a bored tone. "We still have a mission to accomplish." He lets go of him.

* * *

'_We had been walking for hours and weren't even close to the village.'_ Ryoko thought and started daydreaming. But then she stopped when she felt Sasuke's presence next to her. _'A ninja must be always on alert for the enemies. Even though I didn't think we would actually be attacked, I mean, we're just escorting some guy back to his home, what's the big deal about it? Well, I guess you never know…'_

"Kakashi-sensei, are there ninjas in the Wave Country?" She asked.

"No, not in the Land of Waves. But, as a general rule, even with all the differences that exist in local customs and cultures…Most other lands have their own hidden village where a ninja clan resides." Kakashi-sensei explained.

Ryoko nodded with some understanding, "Okay…I see…sorta…"

Kakashi-sensei pulls out **the big scroll of shinobi the five principal shinobi territories.**

The scroll showed a map of the five lands and the five kages.

"For most of the countries on the continent, the ninja villages serve as the military force. They protect their own people and handle the ongoing relations with neighboring countries. Yet, the villages do not answer to the rulers of the native countries. Instead they are on an equal footing with the government. In the case of very small island nations where an invasion would be difficult to mount, a ninja village is regarded as unnecessary. Among the various ninja villages, in particular, those located in the lands of Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, Suna, and Iwa are large – and their strength is immense. Those are called The Five Great Lands of Shinobi. They are also the only places where the shinobi leader calls himself a Kages, or Shadow."

_'Sensei does like hearing the sound of his own voice, doesn't he?_' Ryoko took the scroll from off screen and read the rest, "Those legendary leaders, Hokage – or Fire Shadow, Mizukage – or Water Shadow…Raikage, Kazekage, and Tsuchikage are known to ninja everywhere as the five Shadows…the ultimate commanders of all of the tens of thousands of shinobi throughout the world." She tosses the scroll off screen.

_'The old geezer really doesn't seem all that great.'_ Naruto, Ryoko, and Sasuke thought.

"Hey!" Kakashi-sensei called, snapping them back to the reality. "You just doubted Lord Hokage, didn't you?"

They shook their heads quickly with horrified expressions. _'Did he read our thoughts?!'_

"Don't worry." Sensei said, patting Ryoko's head. "We won't have any ninja battles in a C-ranked mission."

-0-

They continued their boring walk to the Wave Country. Everything seemed to be normal. Beautiful trees, boring rocks, bloody birds, stupid squirrels, and a puddle of water…

_'Wait. A puddle? But I'm sure it hasn't rained in days! That's strange. Too strange.'_ Ryoko thought peering at the puddle then at Kakashi sensei, "Kakashi-sensei?"

Then before anyone could react, a metal chain shot out of the puddle and wrapped itself tightly around Kakashi-sensei. The chain wrapped around him so tightly that it Kakashi-sensei was cut into pieces.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto and Ryoko yelled.

Two men appeared then disappeared and reappeared again behind Naruto.

"Second one." One of them whispered.

Naruto's face converted into a horrified one. The men raised the chain again.

"Naruto! Move!" Ryoko yelled worriedly.

He didn't listen, he was frozen there. Ryoko was about to run and shove him out of the way when Sasuke jumped into the air. He took a shuriken and a kunai out of his pocket and, throwing the star first, trapped the chain into a tree. Then he threw the kunai in the center of the shuriken, making sure it wouldn't come out. The men tried to pull away, but couldn't do it in time. Sasuke landed on the men's claws and kicked each one's face hard.

With the force of the kick the chains which kept them imprisoned broke into pieces. One of the men recovered faster and launched towards Tazuna. Ryoko had anticipated that and ran to stand in front of him with a kunai on her hand. She wouldn't be able to take the man alone. As if he read her mind Sasuke ran in front of them, opening his arms protectively. Fortunately Kakashi-sensei appeared holding both of the men easily.

Ryoko gasp in shock. _'Wasn't he dead?'_

"Hey." The sensei said casually.

Ryoko looked at the place Kakashi-sensei's corpse was supposed to be. Instead of pieces of flesh, there were log pieces.

"Ah. Substitution jutsu. Should've known." Ryoko smirked as she shook her head.

"You didn't doubt me, did you?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Coming from the sensei that's always late…"

Kakashi-sensei turned to Naruto, "Sorry for not helping you out right away. I got you hurt." He apologized. "I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move."

Naruto groaned.

"Anyway, Sasuke, good job. Ryoko you too."

Naruto looked devastated.

Ryoko felt bad and went to comfort him, "Hey, it's ok." She assured him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It was our first battle. Even I was afraid."

"But at least you did something." He said sadly.

"Hey." Sasuke called.

Ryoko and Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"You're not hurt are you…scaredy cat?" At first he actually sounded concerned until he added the scaredy cat.

Naruto clenched his fists in anger and ran at him. "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, about to launch towards him.

"Naruto!" Kakashi-sensei called, stopping Naruto from attacking Sasuke. "There's poison on this guys' nails. We need to take out the poison right away."

"Nani?!"

"We have to open up your wound and leech out the poisoned blood. Don't move that much or the poison will spread through your body. By the way...Tazuna."

"W-what is it?" The bridge builder stuttered.

"I need to talk to you."

After they tied the men in a tree, Kakashi-sensei continued. "These guys are Chuunin class ninja from Kirigakure (Village Hidden in the Mist). They are ninjas known to keep fighting no matter the cost."

"How were you able to detect our action?" One of the Chuunin questioned.

"It hasn't rained for the past few days, and it's sunny today, so a water puddle shouldn't exist. I wasn't the only one who noticed." He smiled at Ryoko.

"Why did you let them fight if you knew that?" Tazuna asked, rather angry.

"If I was up to it, I could have killed those two in the blink of an eye. But…" He sent an glare to Tazuna. "I needed to know who the target for these two was."

"What do you mean?"

"In other words, were you being targeted or someone from our ninja group? We have not heard anything about you being targeted by ninjas. Your request was to protect you from armed groups like gangs and robbers. This is a mission that's above a B-ranked. Our job was to support and guard you until you completed the bridge. If ninja are our enemy, this mission would have been an expensive rank B." Tazuna looked ashamed. "It looks like you have your reasons, but it only troubles us if you lie in your request details. This wasn't part of the mission."

"We need anesthesia to take out the poisoned blood of Naruto." She added, looking at Naruto's hand, "We need to go back to the village and see a doctor!"

"This sure is a burden." Sensei said scratching his head. "Let's go back to the village to cure Naruto."

This got Naruto mad. Before anyone could stop him, Naruto lifted a kunai and stabbed his injured hand. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Why am I so different?" Naruto muttered darkly. "Why am I always… Damn it!"

"Uh…Naruto…" Ryoko watched blood ooze out of Naruto's hand.

"I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things. I'm not going to lose to Sasuke. I vow that to this pain in my left hand. I'm going to protect old man Tazuna with this kunai!" He turned to us with a smirk. "The mission is still on."

Kakashi-sensei let out a deep sigh, "Naruto, it's nice that you took out the poisoned blood so spiritedly, but you're going to die from blood loss if any more comes out." He ended with an innocent smile.

Everyone stood in silence for a minute. Naruto's face went pale.

"No, no, no, no!" Naruto yelled desperately, shaking his arms. "I can't die like this! Help me! Help me!"

"Naruto, show me your hand." Kakashi-sensei said with a calm smile. He took Naruto's hand and examined it. His eyes widened slightly when he saw it was already starting to heal.

"Am I… okay?" Naruto asked nervously. His face was now dark blue. "You have a serious look on your face."

"You should be okay." Sensei answered, taking out some bandages and warping Naruto's hand with them. _'It must be Kyuubi's power…'_ He thought.

"Great!" Ryoko said with a grin.

* * *

They're now in a boat towards the Wave Country. The mist was really thick, but they still managed to see some things. Like the huge unfinished bridge towered above their heads.

"IT'S HUGE!" Naruto yelled excited the moment he saw it.

"Hey, be quiet!" The boatman scolded. "We're using this boat and hiding in the mist. That's why I'm rowing instead of using the engine. In other words, if we get caught, we'll be in trouble."

Naruto immediately put his hands over this mouth and twitched his eyes. Ryoko chuckled a little at this.

Kakashi-sensei didn't take the eyes from the bridge builder, "Tazuna-san." He started. Tazuna lowered his head. "Before the boat gets to the pier, there's something I need to ask you. The identity of the ones who are after you and the reason they are. Or we can call this mission off when you get ashore, Tazuna-san."

Tazuna stood in silence for a minute. All eyes were at him and the aura was tense. After a short wait, he spoke.

"It looks like I have to tell you the real story. I mean, I would like you to hear my story."

"As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description." He continued. "An extremely terrible man is after my life. You should have all at least heard of the name… Marine transportation billionaire Gato."

"Gato?" Kakashi-sensei asked surprised. "The one from the Gato Company?"

"Do you have any idea of who he is?" Ryoko whispered to Naruto.

"Not a clue." He answered curiously.

"He's one of the richest men in the world." Sensei explained.

"Yes, he's the president of a marine transportation company on the outside. But underground, he uses gangs and ninjas to smuggle drugs and contraband goods. He also does nasty jobs like takeovers of other companies and countries. A year ago, he set his sights on the Wave Country. He entered this country using violence and wealth as his shield and quickly took over the island's sea traffic and transportation. On an island like the Wave country, controlling the sea means ruling over the wealth, politics and people of this island. And the one thing Gato is afraid of is the completion of the bridge that has been in construction for quite some time."

"I see. So you, as the one building the bridge, became an obstacle to him." Ryoko said.

"Then those ninjas were sent by Gato." Sasuke concluded.

"I just don't get one thing." Ryoko said. "Why did you lie about the rank of the mission? You could have gotten ninjas in a higher rank to escort you."

"The Wave Country is really a poor country. Even the feudal lord doesn't have much money." Tazuna explained. "And we do not have much either. We don't have the money to request an expensive B-ranked or above missions. If you quit your mission after I land I'll be killed for sure while I go home. But there's no need for you to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight year old grandson will cry, cry and cry some more. And my daughter will just hold a grudge Konoha ninja and live a lonely life. But it's not your fault."

_'The old geezers trying to guilt trip us!'_ Ryoko frowned seeing as the others were starting to fall for it.

Kakashi-sensei scratched his forehead (actually he scratched his forehead protector).

"I guess it can't be helped." He said with a nervous smile. "We will continue escorting you."

"That's good to hear."

Ryoko heard Tazuna whispering something like "I won!" with a peace sign.

"Hey, I saw that!" Ryoko yelled and pointed at him.

* * *

The boat landed and everyone got off. Soon they entered another forest, close to Tazuna's house. This time nothing seemed to be out of place. Naruto was walking in front of everyone, but Sasuke caught up with him. The two boys glared at each other. Naruto suddenly launched forward and looked around. He took out a kunai and threw it at a bush. Tazuna trembled in fear, thinking there was someone there. Nothing happened for the past few minutes.

"Oh, it was just a mouse." Naruto said smoothly.

"Geez! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Ryoko scolded, clutching her shirt.

"Please, Naruto, don't use your kunai so abusively!" Kakashi-sensei almost begged. "It's dangerous in the first place."

"Hey, you dwarf!" Tazuna shouted. "Don't scare us!"

"I see someone hiding over there!" Naruto said. "No, is he there? There!" He threw another kunai at the left bush.

"I told you to stop!" Ryoko scolded.

"But I really did sense something!" He said, rubbing his head.

With a heavy sigh, she decided to see what he's so worked up about. She walked towards the bush and opened it. "Yeah, you did hit something this time." The kunai was a few inches above a white bunny's head. The poor animal had fainted in fright. "Good job, bunny killer."

"GAH!" Naruto gasped, running up to the rabbit. "Sorry, bunny, I didn't mean it!" He apologized as he hugged it. "I'm SO sorry, bunny!"

"Everyone duck!" Kakashi-sensei shouted pushing Tazuna to the ground.

Naruto ducked in time. Sasuke had pushed Ryoko to the ground just in time to avoid a giant flying sword. The sword hit the top of a tree and someone jumped on the blade on the large sword. It was a grey skinned man with bandages covering his mouth and a murderous look on his face. Another Kiri nin!


	6. Zabuza strikes! Tree climbing challenge!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. All credit goes to the great Masashi Kishimoto! I didn't proof read this... Microsoft did, so whatever it overlooked is not my fault...C'mon! it's a lot to reread! I probably made some confusing mistakes and i apologize for that. It's been rough and life would be alot easier if we could over look things. But only certain things can be let go.

I wasn't really sure where to stop so...I just stopped where I felt like it. The next chapter will be out very soon. Dattebayo!

As my friend Sasuke would say, 'You fail! Get over it!'

Song of my day...'Sonic Adventure 1 - Open your heart by Crush 40

* * *

- Zabuza strikes

Everyone stared at the Kiri ninja with wide eyes.

Kakashi-sensei stepped forward, lifting his head to look at the newcomer.

"My, my, if it isn't Momochi Zabuza, the exiled ninja of Kirigakure."

Naruto ran forward but Kakashi put his hand out and stopped him, "No, Naruto. I'll take him on."

"Why?" Naruto complained.

"Well, if it's him we must face, I just might have to use this." Kakashi-sensei grabbed his headband and started to remove it from his left eye.

"So you are Kakashi the Sharingan user," Zabuza said.

"What's Sharingan?" Ryoko asked when she noticed Sasuke tense up.

Zabuza looked past Kakashi to the team and Tazuna, "I'm going to need you to hand over the geezer."

"Everyone, triangle formation!" Kakashi directed at everyone, "Do not join the battle, and protect Tazuna." None of them moved but watched as Kakashi lifted his headband revealing a scarred eye. He opened his eye to reveal a red one with three black commas, the Sharingan.

"I'm honored that I can see the Sharingan that I've so heard about." Zabuza said in a mock tone.

"You guys have been saying Sharingan, but what is it?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"Sharingan…" Sasuke began thoughtfully. All the stares turned to him. "Shinobi who have the Sharingan eye have mastered a form of ocular ninjutsu. It enables them to penetrate and see the reality behind any illusion or spell. And to reflect the power of the magics they penetrate back on those who cast them! And there's more…"

"Correct." Zabuza said. "The scary part is that Sharingan can understand how an opponent's technique works and copy it." Mist began to surround everyone as the Kiri assassin talked. "When I was in Kirigakure's assassination squad your information was listed in the bingo book I carried asking for your capture. It also noted this: The man who copied more than 1000 ninja techniques, Copy ninja Kakashi."

_'Are we talking about the same lazy and perverted Kakashi-sensei?'_ Ryoko asked herself with an arched eyebrow.

"WOW!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

Ryoko looked over at Sasuke to see his reaction. He looked troubled. It wasn't difficult to understand why. First he thought his whole clan was dead and now sensei has the Uchiha's Kekkei Genkai.

"Let's cut the chit-chat here." Zabuza said. "I have to kill that geezer right away."

Tazuna gasped. The three of them stood in front of him holding their kunai. Ryoko was on the right, Sasuke in the middle, and Naruto on the left.

"But, Kakashi seems I have to defeat you first."

Zabuza jumped out of the tree and landed on the water.

"He's on the top of the water?!" Ryoko gasped.

Zabuza rapidly performed hand seals and the water began to circle him. He was putting a lot of chakra on it. Ryoko could feel the hair on the back of her neck rise.

"Mist Concealment." He stated as he performed the final hand seal.

The water turned into mist, making Zabuza vanish. And this wasn't the worst part. The mist surrounding them grew thicker. If Zabuza attacked, they would be dead.

"Crap." Ryoko cursed, trying uselessly to see through the mist.

"He'll try to eliminate me first, but…" Kakashi-sensei seemed to be lost in thought.

"What is he?" Naruto asked.

"Momochi Zabuza. He was in Kirigakure's ANBU and was known for his 'silent killing' techniques."

"And the good news just won't stop coming…" Ryoko mumbled sarcastically.

"Just as the name implies, it's a technique that's executed in a flash and carried out in absolute silence. It's possible that you'll be dead before you realize it. And I cannot use my Sharingan to its fullest potential. So don't let your guard down."

Ryoko looked at Naruto's horrified expression. No doubt that he was scared. Sasuke was masking his fear well. Ryoko tried to keep the emotionless face, but inside she was freaking out.

"But if you fail you're going to die." Kakashi-sensei continued calmly.

"You're so carefree!" Ryoko snapped.

"The mist is getting thicker!" Naruto shouted.

"The Country of the Wave is surrounded by the ocean, so a mist often emerges." Tazuna informed.

Everyone waited for some kind of sign or a signal from their Sensei.

"Eight points." Zabuza's evil voice echoed. Everyone jumped in surprise. "The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, vein, collarbone, kidney and heart. Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at?"

This time no one could hide their nervousness. Ryoko tightened her grip on her kunai, and looked intently for the Kiri assassin. Tension filled and she felt that she wouldn't be able to move even if she wanted to.

Suddenly an intense flow of chakra dispersed great part of the mist. They finally could see again. Kakashi-sensei was still standing in front of us, his light blue chakra glowing. Instinctively, Ryoko looked over at Sasuke. His eyes were taken by fear and his body was shaken. She had never seen him so scared before.

_'What an intense thirst for blood…'_ Sasuke thought. _'If I draw his attention by even blinking, he'll kill me! I can feel it!'_ Sasuke started panting and sweating, 'I can't stay like this for long! I'm going to lose it.' Shakily he pointed his kunai to himself, _'A master ninja, determined to make a kill…knowing my life is in his hands…I hate it! You start wanting to die, just to end the suspense…'_

Ryoko moved her left hand and took hold of Sasuke's hand to move it away from him. "It'll be okay, we're the best in the academy, we fought the chunins and survived. We'll survive this too." She whispered facing Sasuke. "If anything, I'll back you up."

"Sasuke! Ryoko!"

Sasuke and Ryoko looked up.

"Don't worry. I will protect all of you with my life. I won't let anyone on my team die," Kakashi turned and smiled. Ryoko smiled back. Discreetly she kept her hand on Sasuke's. She felt him calm down when Sasuke took her hand to give an assuring squeeze before letting go and returned to hold the formation like nothing happened.

"I'm not so sure about that," Everyone heard Zabuza speak. In a flash they sensed his chakra right behind them. "This is the end!" Zabuza swung his sword. Everyone scattered as Kakashi ran in the path of the sword. Kakashi had a kunai stuck in Zabuza's stomach, but only water leaked out.

"A water clone!" Ryoko saw the real Zabuza behind Kakashi.

"Sensei, behind you!" Naruto warned.

Kakashi turned around as the clone turned into a puddle. Kakashi turned around as Zabuza's sword slammed right into him.

"Sensei!" Ryoko held her breath as Kakashi turned into a water puddle.

"So he copied my water clone technique...?" Zabuza smirked slightly.

Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza with a kunai to his neck,

"Don't move. This is the end." Kakashi said as he held a kunai to Zabuza's neck.

Zabuza started laughing, "You think so eh?"

Sasuke and Ryoko narrowed their eyes.

"I don't think you understand Kakashi, you cannot defeat me with your cheap imitations," Zabuza chuckled, "But I must say, you copied my Water Clone Jutsu quite quickly. You hid in the mist and watched as your clone distracted me," Zabuza continued. "But, like I said, you cannot defeat me with cheap imitations." Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi as the Zabuza in front of him turned into water.

_'Another clone!?'_

Zabuza swung his massive sword but Kakashi ducked causing the sword's blade to get stuck in the ground. Zabuza swiftly switched hands on the handle and kicked Kakashi sending him flying into the river.

"One kick and he blasted Kakashi-sensei away!" She quivered.

Zabuza pulled up his sword and ran towards Kakashi. He halted to a stop when he got near the shore of the river.

"Makibishi spikes!? Does he really think that can work on me?" Zabuza did a back flip. With a big splash, he landed in the water.

"His taijutsu is powerful too," Sasuke said, now that they got out of position and stood in a straight line. They saw their sensei's silver haired head bob to the surface.

"What's with this water? It's dense, not normal..." Kakashi observed as he moved is arms in the water. Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi,

"Fool. Water Prison no Jutsu!"

"Damn!" Kakashi turned around but it was too late. With a simple hand seal, Zabuza formed a sphere of water that captured Kakashi.

"Retreating in the water was a huge mistake!"

Kakashi realized as he pushed on the walls of the prison.

"Why don't you make yourself comfortable Kakashi? You might be in here a while, my prison is inescapable. It'll just be more painful if you move around and try anything. Now, we can finish things later," Zabuza turned to face the rest of you, his hand still sealing Kakashi with his jutsu. "But first, I'm gonna rid of these brats!" Zabuza made a hand seal. "Water Clone Jutsu!"

All of the genins were alert in an instant. A water clone appeared and started to speak,

"You three wear those headbands like you're real ninjas, but you have no idea what being a real ninja means. A real ninja is someone who has faced so many brushes with death it doesn't even faze you. To put it bluntly, once you're good enough to be listed in my bingo book, then you may have the honor of calling yourself a ninja." Zabuza made another hand seal and disappeared.

Naruto looked around frantically. "Where'd he go!?" All of a sudden Naruto was hit hard in the head and flew back. His headband came off and landed near Zabuza where he stomped on it and rubbed it into the ground with his foot.

"All you are just brats!" Zabuza stated.

"Naruto! You okay?!" Ryoko ran to his side.

"No! Do not fight him! Take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi yelled from his prison. "As long as he has me sealed inside this prison, he can't move! Clones can't stray to far from their original bodies!"

"We have to do it!" Sasuke yelled, launching towards Zabuza's clone.

Ryoko's eyes widen when she saw Sasuke run passed her, "Are you nuts?!"

Sasuke threw several shuriken at the clone. The clone blocked with his sword. Sasuke jumped forward with a kunai aimed to the clone's head.

The assassin's clone smirked, "Too easy."

He lifted his arm and grabbed Sasuke by the neck. Sasuke screamed in pain. Everyone watched the scene with scared expressions. Finally, Zabuza's clone threw him away.

"Uchiha!" Ryoko left Naruto's side to run and catch Sasuke.

"H-he got Sasuke!" Naruto turned to Zabuza in fear, his whole body shaking. Naruto's eyes quivered. "This truly is a jounin, a real ninja!"

Ryoko growled and dashed toward Zabuza with kunai in each hand, passing Naruto while he looked at her fearfully. Zabuza laughed as she came and dodged every one of her attacks. He then grabbed her neck. "Ack!"

"Ryoko!" Naruto shouted, wide eye.

"No!" Sasuke shouted.

Zabuza squeezed her neck and threw her against a tree.

"Gack!" She coughed up blood as she slouched to the ground.

Another Zabuza clone appeared and loomed over Naruto.

"I-I have to get out of here! If I stick around, I-I'll surely be...be killed!" Naruto started to crawl away when he stopped dead. He stared at his bandaged hand. The memory of the promise he made flashed through his mind. Naruto stared at his hand a moment more.

"And I will not lose to Sasuke or Ryoko!" Naruto looked at his headband under Zabuza's foot. After attacking Ryoko, he had walked back over and scuffed it into the ground again. Flashbacks came whizzing into Naruto's mind. Memories of battles with Iruka, missions with Kakashi, everything the team had to do to get where they were.

"I remember. I decided not to back down from anything, I promised myself that when...when I became a ninja!" Naruto stood up and charged at Zabuza.

"Naruto!" Ryoko yelled weakly as she hoisted herself up.

In seconds Naruto came crashing back to the group. Ryoko also joined them, walking over slowly. Naruto shakily got to his knees clutching his headband. Slowly Naruto stood up once more. Tying his headband to his forehead he spoke,

"Hey you, freak with no eyebrows. Put this in your Bingo book: the ninja that will some day become the greatest Hokage of the Leaf Village," Naruto tightly secured his headband and looked up at Zabuza with his trademark grin "Uzumaki Naruto!"

Zabuza glared.

"Sasuke! Ryoko! Listen to me for a sec," Naruto said.

"What is it?" They asked at the same time.

"I have a plan."

Sasuke and Rayne smirked.

"So you're finally thinking about teamwork?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto wiped the blood from his chin and smirked, "Let's go wild!"

Zabuza chuckled, "You seem to be quite confident, but do you even have a chance for victory?" He questioned.

Kakashi-sensei's eyes widened, "What are you all doing?! I told you to run away!" He yelled furiously. "The outcome of this battle was decided when I got caught! Run! Our mission is to protect Tazuna-san. Did you forget that?!"

Naruto turned to Tazuna with a pleading look, "Old man…"

Tazuna smirked, "Don't worry; I caused all of this in first place. I won't say that I want to survive no matter what. Sorry, everyone. Fight as much as you want."

Ryoko perked up with a grin, "Yeah, looks like now we have to fight."

"Looks like it." Sasuke agreed with a smirk.

"Are you ready?" Naruto asked.

Ryoko and Sasuke nodded.

Their wave of enthusiasm was interrupted again by Zabuza. This time it wasn't a dry chuckle. It was replaced by a cruel laughter.

"You sure don't learn, do you?" He asked.

"Nani?" Naruto asked.

"Still pretending to be ninja? When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood." They flinched.

Kakashi-sensei's eyes narrowed at the Kiri nin, "The Demon Zabuza."

"It looks like you've heard of me."

"A long time ago, Kirigakure was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist. In that village there was an obstacle that existed to become a ninja."

Zabuza glared at Kakashi-sensei, "So you also know about the final test there."

"The final test?" Naruto questioned. "Hey, what is that 'final test'?"

Zabuza laughed again, "Students killing each other." From that part on it was difficult to tell who was the most terrified. "Friends who have eaten from the same pot are separated into groups of two and forced to fight each other until one of them is killed. This is done with friends that have helped each other, shared their dreams, and competed together."

"That's awful…" Ryoko whispered.

"Ten years ago, Kirigakure had to go through a reformation." Kakashi-sensei said, "Because in the previous year, a monster appeared that finally decided it."

"A reformation…? What did that monster do?"

"A small boy who had not even gained the right to become a ninja killed more than 100 of the candidates that year, and killed them all without hesitation."

They all looked at Zabuza. His eyes held a murderous intent.

"That was fun." He said.

The next thing anyone knew, Sasuke lying on the ground with Zabuza's clone elbowing his stomach. He coughed blood.

"SASUKE!"

"UCHIHA!" Ryoko yelled. _'That's it! He's dead!!'_ Her eyes adjusted to slit cat eyes and she performed a single hand seal, "Naruto!"

"Got it!" He said, also forming the single hand seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" They yelled in unison.

Some of our doppelgangers appeared and surrounded Zabuza's clone. He simply grabbed his sword with a bored look. "Oh, the Shadow Clone Jutsu? And you replicated into quite a few."

Each Shadow clone took out a kunai and went on the attack. "Here we go!" They yelled, jumping the fake Zabuza all at once. When they thought they had him, Zabuza's clone swung his sword and slashed practically all of the doppelgangers. They were sent flying backwards. Ryoko saw Naruto taking something from his bag after the attack.

She raised an eyebrow. _'A Windmill Shuriken?'_

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he threw the shuriken for Sasuke to catch.

Sasuke grabbed it and spun around to get a better aim.

"A shuriken won't work on me." Zabuza's clone warned.

Sasuke ignored him and opened the Shuriken, "Demon Wind Shuriken! Windmill of Shadows!" He performed a high jump while throwing the Windmill Shuriken. The clone waited patiently to block. Tazuna's, Kakashi-sensei's and Zabuza's eyes widened when they saw the shuriken fly right past the clone Zabuza and aimed itself towards the real Zabuza!

"I see." He said. "So you're going after the real one this time. But it's too easy for me!" He grabbed the shuriken with his free hand just in time to see another one coming in his direction. _'Another shuriken was in the shadow of the shuriken?_' He asked himself, surprised. _'That's not the Shadow Shuriken Technique.'_

On the last second, Zabuza jumped, avoiding the shuriken attack.

Ryoko doubted for a second until she suddenly smirked. The shuriken transformed into a cloud of smoke in mid-air, revealing Naruto with a kunai aimed.

"This is the spot!" He yelled, throwing the kunai aiming for the arm that held Kakashi-sensei prisoner. Unless he wanted to be hit, he would have to take the arm from there. And that was what he did. Zabuza released the water-prison technique, letting Kakashi-sensei out. His eyes were filled with a murderous anger. He swung to large Shuriken in his hand and prepared to throw it at Naruto while he was falling.

Naruto panicked when he knew wouldn't be able to dodge it.

"YOU DAMN KID!" Zabuza yelled.

He was about to throw the shuriken when something stopped him. Blood flew through the air. Kakashi-sensei's hand was under one of the shuriken's blades, preventing it from being thrown. Naruto fell on the water with a happy grin as sensei glared at Zabuza. Naruto lifted his head out of the water.

"Naruto, your plan was impressive." Kakashi-sensei complimented.

Naruto laughed, "I used the Shadow clone Jutsu to hide the fact that I transformed into the Shuriken. I didn't do it to defeat Zabuza. I left one of my replicas and transformed into a Shuriken. Then my replica threw me, now a Shuriken, to Sasuke. Sasuke noticed it was me right after he caught it. Then he took out his own shuriken and used the Shadow Shuriken Technique. I hid in the shadow of the real shuriken and went straight for Zabuza. I knew I couldn't beat Zabuza just by that, of course. But I thought if I could just break the water-prison maybe things would turn around."

Sasuke smirked, "It was just luck."

Tazuna looked pissed when he heard that, "IT WAS JUST LUCK?!"

Ryoko giggled and looked at Tazuna, "Yeah. You should see when we try for real."

"I lost myself temporarily and canceled the Water-Prison Technique…" Zabuza said.

"No, you didn't cancel the technique. You were forced to." Kakashi-sensei corrected. "Let me just tell you that the same technique won't work against me twice. What are you going to do now?"

A heavy silence filled the air. Seriously, tension was so thick it could be even cut. The others stared carefully at Zabuza, waiting for his next move.

"Ryoko. Don't let your guard down." Sasuke warned.

"I never let it down, Uchiha" She snapped, sending him a small glare.

Surprising everyone, even sensei, Zabuza put the blades of the shuriken together and pressed it against the back of Kakashi-sensei's hand. It started to bleed more until sensei finally snapped the shuriken away. The two Jounin jumped backwards and prepared their hands, ready to start a Ninjutsu battle. Zabuza did the first seals, but Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan copied them so fast that they didn't know it would be impossible for them to tell who was copying who. It was a long jutsu and, apparently, a powerful one. Finally, their hands stopped.

"Water Style: Water Dragon jutsu!!"

Two giant water dragons rose from the lake and circled each other, trying to attack their respective enemy ninja. A huge wave formed as they collided. It came in Sasuke, Ryoko and Tazuna's direction, sweeping them away in the current.

Kakashi and Zabuza jumped backwards and ran a mid-circle before doing the next hand signs. Zabuza raised his left arm and brought the right one in front of his face. Zabuza looked terrified when he saw that Kakashi-sensei had done that at the same time as him.

"He's moving just like him!" Tazuna exclaimed. "And with such a perfect timing!"

Both Jounin lowered their arms and did the "Tori (bird)" seal.

Kakashi-sensei was saying something that was definitely pissing Zabuza off. They were too far and low for the others to hear. Finally the assassin lost his cool and did the other hand signs as fast as he could. And Kakashi-sensei copied them just in time.

"Water Style: Grand Waterfall Technique!"

Surprisingly enough, Zabuza didn't finish the jutsu this time.

A great whirlpool came into his direction, trapping him inside. The whirlpool made its way towards the forest, taking Zabuza along. The whirlpool finally stopped when it hit a tree, leaving a harmless Zabuza leaning against it. Several kunai thrown by sensei struck him in the arms and legs. Kakashi-sensei jumped to the tree behind the assassin. Ryoko, Sasuke, Tazuna ran towards them.

"This is the end." Kakashi-sensei said.

"Why…?" Zabuza managed to ask. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah." Sensei said, lifting a kunai. "You're going to die."

Before anyone could react, two senbon hit Zabuza's neck. Blood started to fall from the injury as he fell on the ground. Everyone's eyes widened. Kakashi-sensei had not done that for sure.

Ryoko instinctively looked in the direction from which the senbon had come from. There stood someone with a mask like the ANBU's. It was difficult to tell if it was a boy or a girl, but they seemed young. Kakashi-sensei glared at the intruder.

"It was true. He did die." They said.

Tazuna, Sasuke and Ryoko stared at the newcomer with jaws dropped.

_'I can't believe it.'_

_'We fought hard against Zabuza and this guy killed him with simple needles?'_

Naruto got out of the water and joined the others with an angry look on his face.

Kakashi-sensei jumped from the tree, landing beside Zabuza's corpse. He kneeled down and put two fingers on his neck, trying to find a pulse.

"He really is dead."

The stranger bowed, "Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

"The mask…" Sensei wondered out loud. "If I remember correctly you must be a hunter-nin from Kirigakure."

"You're very well informed."

"A hunter-nin?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Hunter-nins are special ninja who assassinate exiled shinobi like Zabuza, who, for some reason, go against their villages. They do it so they can conceal any secret of the village." Ryoko told Naruto, saving him from a long and boring lecture.

"Yes, I am a member of the pursuing ninja unit that hunts exiled ninja." The stranger said gesturing to Zabuza.

Naruto looked from the stranger to Kakashi-sensei and then to Zabuza's dead corpse with clenched teeth. He turned to the hunter-nin again.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Calm down Naruto, he's not an enemy." Kakashi-sensei said, standing up.

"That's not what I'm asking! But… Zabuza was killed! He… He was so strong, but he was killed so easily by a kid that's not that different from me! We… we look like idiots! I can't accept this!"

"I understand that you can't believe it." Kakashi-sensei said in a calm tone. "But it's real." He put his hand on Naruto's head. "In this world, there are kids there are younger than you… and stronger than me."

An air current coated the stranger's body, causing him to disappear and reappear beside Zabuza's corpse. He put it on his shoulders with an incredibly ability, as if it didn't weight nothing. "Your battle ends here for now." He said. "I must go dispose of this corpse. It's a body filled with secrets. If you'll excuse me..." With that another air current coated him and the hunter-nin vanished.

Once they weren't in danger anymore, sensei covered his Sharingan eye with his headband. Naruto ran up to where the boy and Zabuza were.

"He's not around here anymore." Kakashi-sensei said. Naruto kneeled down and punched the ground in frustration.

"What was that?! What were we…?! Damn it, damn it, da-" He stopped as he felt someone grabbing his arm. Ryoko. Naruto stared at her without saying a word.

"There are people stronger than us. We have to accept it." She said. "And train even harder to beat all of them."

Naruto's eyes widened. A small smile formed in his lips as he nodded.

Kakashi-sensei turned to the rest of our group, "Our mission hasn't ended yet." He said. "We need to take Tazuna-san to his house."

Tazuna grinned and laughed, as though they just hadn't been in mortal danger five minutes ago.

"Sorry about that, everyone!" He said. "Just rest at my house!"

"All right, let's cheer up and go!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi-sensei walked forward, leading the way, but then stopped. His face went pale and eyes widened. Ryoko noticed and almost panicked. Then… suddenly, he fainted.

Everyone rushed over at sensei.

"Nani? What happened?" Tazuna asked.

"Kakashi-sensei…?" Naruto called in a low voice.

Sasuke kneeled down and checked his pulse, "He's okay. He's just exhausted."

Naruto and Ryoko sighed in relief.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Are you alright, teacher?!"

Sensei was lying in a mattress prepared by Tsunami, looking completely exhausted. Sasuke, Ryoko, Tazuna and Tsunami kneeled and sat around Kakashi-sensei.

"No, but I will be…in about a week…" he replied.

"Sharingan is amazing, but it puts a lot of strain on the body." Ryoko commented.

"But you defeated such a strong ninja. We should be okay for a while." Tazuna said wiping sweat off his forehead, "By the way, who was that boy with the mask?"

"He had the mask of a pursuing ninja from a special squad from Kirigakure's ANBU." Kakashi-sensei replied.

"A special squad?" Tazuna asked.

"They are also known as the fire extinguishing unit, and their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive. A ninja body will give away the secrets of Ninjutsu and Chakra of the village it was in, any specific medicine that was used on the body, along with various other things. For example, if I die, the secret to the Sharingan will be examined and in the worst case scenario, there's a possibility that my techniques, including the Sharingan, will be stolen. In other words, pursuing ninja will kill exiled ninja who have abandoned the village, dispose the ninja's body and stop any secrets of the village from being revealed. They are specialists in the field."

After finishing this little long speech, Kakashi-sensei seemed lost in thought.

"What's wrong, sensei?" Naruto asked when he noticed that Kakashi-sensei dazed.

Kakashi-sensei sighed and shook his head solemnly, "Of course… the shinobi hunters who manage corpse disposals are supposed to destroy the bodies of those they kill at once, on the spot."

"So…what's your point?" Ryoko asked. "That Anbu took the body away…" She thought about what she just said, "Oh…"

"Exactly. All he needed to do was bring the head back as proof. Also, the weapon that the boy used to kill Zabuza was questionable."

"It was just a long needle." Sasuke said. His eyes suddenly widened. "Could it be that-?" "That's it." Ryoko nodded.

"Yeah, it's just what you're thinking." Sensei agreed.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, Ryoko and Kakashi-sensei with a confused look, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi-sensei answered in an incredibly calm tone.

"NANI?!" Naruto and Tazuna yelled in unison, making weird faces.

"What does that mean?!" Naruto asked angrily.

"But you confirmed that he died!" Tazuna argued.

"I did confirm it." Sensei said. "But he was most likely merely in a near-death state. The weapon that the pursuing ninja used has a low fatality rate unless it hits a critical spot. It's most used in acupuncture healings and such. Pursuing ninja know the structure of human body very well. It should be easy for them to put a person into a near-death state. First, he took home the corpse of Zabuza even when it was obvious the body was heavier than him. Second, he used a weapon that has a low fatality rate. From these two points, the goal of that boy was not to kill Zabuza, but to help him."

"Maybe you're thinking too much." Tazuna said hopefully.

"No. Once a ninja feels that there's something weird, he must prepare to it before it's too late. It's one of the ninja iron rules."

"Sensei, how are we going to prepare for it before it's too late?" Ryoko asked. "You can't move for a while…"

"I'm going to make all of you go through some training."

"Not to be the whiner…but if what you said is true about Zabuza being alive and all…we have to factor in that we may not have much time before he heals and comes back." Ryoko said voicing her thought out loud. "How can we prepare ourselves in such a short time?" Ryoko whispered, starting to doubt herself.

"Ryoko, you do realize that you, Naruto, and Sasuke were the ones that saved me, right?" Sensei asked, causing Ryoko and Naruto to grin and Sasuke to smirk. "You three are growing at a rapid rate. Especially you…Naruto. You've grown the most."

Naruto's eyes widened at Kakashi-sensei's praise.

"But that being said…the skills I teach you now will be an interim thing only, to tide us over until I recover enough to take over." He looks at Ryoko, "And to ease your worries, Ryoko, once a person has been placed into a near-death trance…it'll take quite some time before their body returns to its previous state of health and readiness. So we'll begin training while we're waiting!"

"This could be fun!" Naruto exclaimed, getting excited.

"It won't be fun for you." A child's voice said from behind them.

They turned around with confused looks. A boy not older than seven years old stood at the doorframe. He had black hair and eyes, and wore dark green shorts, a white T-shirt and a white hat with blue lines.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked angrily.

"Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna asked.

The boy, apparently called Inari, ran towards the old man and embraced him into a hug.

"Welcome home grandpa."

"Inari, greet our guests properly!" Tsunami scolded, putting the hands on her hips motherly-style, "These are ninja that escorted grandpa."

"It's okay, right, Inari?" Tazuna asked, patting Inari's hat.

Inari stared at Naruto, Ryoko, and Sasuke with a cold expression. He turned to Tsunami.

"But mamma...they're going to die." He stated bluntly in an insulting way.

"What did you say, you brat?!" Naruto yelled, standing up.

"No one can beat up Gato and his men." Inari stated, adding more fuel to the fire.

"Believe it! Listen up. I'm a superhero that's going to become a great ninja known as Hokage. I don't know who this Gato is, but you can't expect me to be afraid of that!!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Inari.

"A hero?" Inari asked, lowering his head. "How stupid. There's no such thing as a hero."

"Wha-? WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Naruto clenched his fists and tried to charge towards Inari, Ryoko stopped him in time, "Calm down, he's just a kid."

"If you don't want to die, you should go home." Inari said, turning to leave.

"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna asked. Inari slid the door open.

"I'll go watch the ocean." With that, he left.

Tazuna turned to the others.

"I'm sorry about him."

Ryoko had let go of Naruto. "You cool?"

Naruto grunted before leaving the room. Probably to go talk to Inari.

Ryoko sat next to Sasuke and looked at Kakashi-sensei, "So what were you saying about our training?"

* * *

The next day Naruto, Sasuke, and Ryoko were in the woods with Kakashi-sensei. He only was able to stand because of the crutches Tsunami had given him.

"We will now begin the training." He announced.

"Roger!" Naruto yelled.

"But before that, let me once again talk about chakra, the base for the ability as a ninja."

"At a time like this?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, do we have to go through all that again?" Ryoko complained a little.

"I already know about that!" Naruto stated raising his hand, "Catra, right?"

Ryoko shook her head with a sigh, "_Chakra_…not Catra."

Kakashi-sensei extended his hand to Ryoko, "Ryoko, would you care to explain?"

"Do I get bonus points?" She asked.

"Uh…no…just a sense of accomplishment." He replied.

"Okay…" She sighed and pulled out her Ryoko Ninja Handbook. "The story of Chakras. Chakras are, to put it simply, the energies that a shinobi requires in order to perform ninjutsu basically, these energies are: (1) those of the body, drawn from each and every one of the approximately 13trillion cells that make up the human body…(2) those of the mental and spiritual energy acquired over the course of much training and experience…together those two forms of energy are what makes up the chakras." She turns the page. "In effect, all the arts and techniques of the shinobi are born of a combination of those 2 energies, brought forth from the body and the spirit. In what is called 'manipulating the chakras' and focused in the mystic process known as 'weaving the signs.' Repeat and repeat until it starts to make sense to you." She closes her book and tosses it off screen.

"That's correct. Well done." Kakashi-sensei pats her one the head.

"What's with that? You can just learn that with your body even if you don't understand the hard stuff." Naruto said.

"Exactly." Sasuke agreed, "We're able to use jutsu anyway."

"No, you guys aren't able to use chakra completely." Kakashi-sensei said.

"NANI?!" Naruto and Ryoko exclaimed.

"Just listen up. As Ryoko said, molding the chakra means to extract energies from the body and the spirit, then mixing them up in your body. And the amount of energy will differ from the type of jutsu you wish to execute. In other words, the mixing will be different. You are not able to use your chakra effectively. Even if you're able to mold a large amount of chakra, if you can't control the balance, your jutsu will be only half as effective or not executed at all. Wasting energy will create a weakness of not being able to fight for a long time."

"So what should we do?" Naruto asked.

"You're going to learn how to control it with your body. You must go through rigorous training where you put your life on the line."

"And that would be-?" Ryoko trailed off.

Kakashi-sensei pointed to a tree, "Climbing trees."

Naruto fell over, Ryoko staggered, and Sasuke sighed heavily.

"Climbing trees?!"

"That's right. But it's not ordinary tree climbing. You're going to climb without using your hands."

"How do we do that?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Just watch." Kakashi-sensei made a seal and gathered chakra to his feet. Then he walked up to a tree and started walking on the trunk.

"He's climbing…" Naruto started.

"…with his legs and feet parallel to the ground." Ryoko completed, equally surprised.

Kakashi-sensei hung upside down on a branch when he decided to stop.

"That's it in a nutshell." He said, apparently satisfied with their surprised faces. "Gather your chakra at the bottom of your feet and make it attach to the tree trunk. The main purpose of this training is to accumulate the right amount of molded chakra in the right location. This is difficult even for a well-trained ninja. The amount of chakra used for this tree climbing exercise is quite subtle. And the most difficult place to concentrate chakra is said to be behind the feet. In other words, if you're able to master this, you can learn any kind of jutsu. In theory, that is. The second purpose is to maintain that molded chakra. Most of the time, ninja mold their chakra during the battle. In that situation, it's even more difficult to maintain chakra. Well, it's not like anything is going to happen even if I give this lecture. I need all of you to learn it with your bodies." He took out four kunai and threw them on the ground in front of them. "Use the kunai to mark where you're able to climb up to with your current ability. Then, try to make a new mark above that mark. You guys aren't good enough to climb by walking, so run to give yourselves a boast and get used to it. Got it?"

Naruto took a kunai out of the ground and made a pose, "This training is too easy for me! Since I'm the guy who's growing most right now."

"And the one who talks most too." Kakashi-sensei said. "Try and climb up any of the trees."

Ryoko took a kunai and smirked. "Looks easy enough."

The three of them closed their eyes and focused on gathering chakra in their feet.

They opened their eyes and ran towards the trees in sync. Now was the time.

Naruto's left foot connected to the tree's trunk first. Incredibly enough…he slipped up first and fell flat on his back.

Ryoko connected a little better than Naruto. She managed to get up a little ways before she felt the chakra in her feet start to fade. She quickly marked her place before she fell gracefully on her feet.

She sighed when she saw how high she climbed. _'It's good for a first try.'_

Then she saw Sasuke land next to her with an irritated look. _'Why's he irritated? He climbed higher than any of us!'_

Sasuke looked at his mark and Ryoko's mark. _'Maintaining focus is a lot harder than I expected. Too much force and the surface's own energy repels you.' _He looks at Naruto, _'Too little, and you'll never adhere in the first place…so you end up like Naruto.'_

Naruto glanced at Ryoko's mark, glanced at Sasuke's and glared at him and Ryoko. Sasuke didn't even bother to comment.

"It looks like no one is the best right now." Kakashi-sensei commented, "Looks like a certain someone won't be Hokage after all." Naruto arched an eyebrow at this. "And the Koneko clan was supposedly the best at this sort of thing...guess not." Ryoko shot sensei an evil glare. "I guess the Uchiha clan isn't worth of much either." Sasuke frowned.

Naruto and Ryoko smirked at each other and exchanged competitive glances with Sasuke. Sasuke returned the competitive glare.

"Okay!" Naruto shouted, clenching his fists. "I'm going to catch up with Ryoko! And then, I'm going after Sasuke!"

"Not if I catch up to him first!"

By insulting them Kakashi-sensei had achieved his goal. Now their determination was increased. As well as their stubbornness.


	7. Battle on the bridge! Part 1 and 2!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto!

I'm feeling somewhat nice today so i extended the chapter by 2. My dad is temporarily living with us and he didn't feel like hiring movers, 'It's a recession, times is hard.' So my sisters and i had to pull some labor. What made me mad the most was that my younger sister and i got home from school and we were both seriously tired and in pain from gym class. Aching muscles and everything! And we're not talking elementry gym class or middle school gym class. High school gym class for those who didn't have it for two years! It's one painful thing after another! Walk the feild two times then jog it three times. Then after that we had to do Tennis! I lost the Tennis ball twice beacuse i hit it too high. I found it the first time and lost it the second. I asked the gym teacher how much time do i have to get the ball back. She said 4 minutes. I walked around the whole court looking for that damn ball and could find it in the tall grass next to the court. When everyone pulled into the school, the teacher asked me if i found the ball. When i said no, she simply said i didn't look hard enough. BITCH!

The whole moving grills, couches, big potted plants, glass tables, outdoor couches and chairs, computers, computer desks, Gutair Hero equipment, Ps3 equipment, and food supplies just did not make my day. Oh and here's the topper. When i told mother about my day, she told dad and dad said that we didn't say anything about being in pain. 0.o....moaning and graoning and limping doesn't count for anything?!

Okay enough complaning from me...on with my friend's story. Thanks for listening Fanfiction...you're my best friend. Only you understand me.

Song of my day...Tekesutakousen by An Cafe

Dattebayo!

* * *

-Battle on the bridge...(I lost my chapter title place...)

"Oww!!" Ryoko heard Naruto's cry of pain as his head hit the ground again.

Ryoko wasn't feeling much better. She never did feel up to her full health ever since the encounter she took with Zabuza. And practicing for hours without reaching a single branch wasn't helping much. But it only made her and them try harder.

Sasuke's marks were, to her and Naruto's annoyance, the highest. Every time they thought they surpassed him, Sasuke managed to climb a few inches more. Naruto had climbed the fewest, but he was indeed improving.

"Hey, Ryoko?" Naruto whispered to her, obviously not wanting to let Sasuke know.

"Yeah?"

"You're a little better at this stuff than I am. Could you help me out a little?" He asked, almost begged. "Please? Teammate to teammate?"

She gave into his begging. There was no harm in giving him a little help, "Alright. First off…you need total concentration. It takes mental energy to generate and manipulate chakra, so if you get all stressed or distracted, you can't do it."

Naruto nodded in understanding. Ryoko saw that Sasuke was watch in the corner of her eye. "It's kind of complicated but take it easy. Relax and focus on the tree until you can feel how much or how little energy you'll need to center on the soles of your feet."

Naruto nodded again before getting back into training. Ryoko was going to try again herself, but Sasuke stopped her.

"Hey, Ryoko…"

"Yeah, Uchiha?"

Sasuke shifted unsurely, "Uuhh…well…"

(Straight out of the text! I'm not doing this to torture his character!)

"What did you say to Naruto…?" He asked with an embarrass blush on his face.

Ryoko was beyond shocked. _'Whoa! Is he asking for help?!'_

Ryoko placed a hand on his cheek, "Are you feeling alright?" She puts a hand on her own cheek to feel the difference in temperature, "Are you getting a fever?" She didn't notice Sasuke growing steadily agitated. "You do feel warm…" She observed.

Sasuke growls and slaps her hand away from his face and walks off. "Forget it!"

* * *

"Boy, this is real fun!" Tazuna laughed. "I can't remember the last time I shared a meal with so many people!"

Ryoko watches Tsunami work at the stove. Seeing Tsunami cooking dinner reminded Ryoko of her own mother cooking dinner.

"Miss Tsunami, would you like me to help with anything?" She asked politely.

Tsunami turns with a smile, "Sure can you pour tea for everyone?" She held up a kettle to Ryoko. Ryoko hopped out of her seat and took the kettle, "Tea anyone?"

Tazuna, Inari, and Kakashi-sensei raised their hands. Naruto and Sasuke were too busy stuffing their faces to respond.

"More please!" They yelled at the same time. They glared when they realized this. Then they turned sickly green and puked all the food they stuffed down their throats.

Ryoko jumped back after she filled Inari's cup, "Gross! At least take it to the bathroom!"

She then noticed a torn picture on the wall. In the picture: Tazuna, Inari, Tsunami. And…someone's legs? _'Why is the picture torn?_

Tsunami noticed Ryoko looking at the picture and told her quietly, "The one missing in the photo is Inari's father."

Ryoko looked up surprised.

Tazuna looked somberly, "…Once upon a time, if you will…our entire city called him a hero."

Just then Inari silently excused himself from the table making sure to slam the door on his way out. Tsunami turned Tazuna in rage, "Father! I've told you not to mention that in front of my son!!"

Kakashi-sensei looked at Tazuna, "It sounds like there's a story here…"

(Okay…I'm going to skip all that jazz. I don't really care for minor characters. I'm sorry! I know what happened, you know what happened, and my friend whom I'm writing this for knows what happened. She knows I'm skipping Chapter 20 and going onto Chapter 21 of the Naruto series. Cut me some slack!)

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Morning of the 6th day of training…

Ryoko greeted everyone with a tired yawn. "Morning…" She rubbed her eyes the way a cat would. When she could focus a little better she noticed that Naruto was absent.

"Naruto still isn't back yet?"

Tazuna shook his head, "I'm guessing he stayed out all night again."

"Is it possible he could've killed himself?" Sasuke asked.

Ryoko glared at him, "Not funny, Uchiha." She maneuvered around Kakashi-sensei to get to the front door.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"To look for him." She said simply, opening the door and walking out.

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Ryoko wandered around the trees looking for Naruto. She had almost given up until she saw him talking to a young beautiful girl. She couldn't really hear what they were saying but she assumed they were done speaking when the girl stood up with s basket of herbs in hand. She turned to walk in Ryoko's direction.

"I know we'll meet again…" She said to both Naruto and Ryoko.

"Right!" Naruto agreed.

But Ryoko was confused as she watched the young female walk by her.

The young female paused for a moment. "Oh and by the way…I'm a boy."

That one simple statement sent them in a confused spiral.

"WHAT?!"

As soon as the boy was gone, Sasuke came. He watched as Ryoko and Naruto mutter to themselves. "The world is an amazing place sometimes." They said in unison.

Sasuke took the liberty to hit them both in the head.

"OW!"

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Kakashi-sensei grew a little worried when he realized that none of his students had yet to return. So he hobbled to the training area. He stood there looking for any sign of his students. From above a kunai fell at Kakashi-sensei's feet. Looking up he saw Naruto resting on a branch. "Kakashi-sensei! Look at how I can go now!!"

To impress his Sensei even more, Naruto tries to stand on the branch only to slip.

Kakashi-sensei's eye widens, 'If he falls at that height--!!'

Naruto caught himself at the last moment using the chakra in his feet to stick to the underside of the branch, "HaHa! Gotcha!"

As if karma hated him, and it does, the chakra in Naruto's feet faded causing him to fall for real! "YAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

Ryoko decided to jump into action. She hung herself from Naruto's previous spot and grabbed his ankle just in time. "Ya see? This is what happens when you push it."

Naruto chuckled as he lightly swung back and forth, "heh heh. Thanks Ryoko!!"

His out burst shocked her a little enough to let go of her concentration. And just like Naruto…her feet slipped too. "Oh Crap!!!"

Sasuke took Ryoko's place on the branch and caught her by her ankle.

"You two losers are really hopeless."

"Hey! Watch the hands, Uchiha!" Ryoko yelled.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ That night ~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~

It took them the rest of the day, but…

"WE DID! WE'RE ON THE TOP!" Ryoko cheered. It's amazing how she found the energy to scream. Naruto and Sasuke, on the trees beside hers, were too exhausted to yell, but shared the same happiness.

"Let's go home." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Yeah!" Naruto answered.

*~~**~*~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*

"What's with you three?" Tazuna asked. "You look really dirty and tired."

"We climbed to the top." Naruto managed to answer, lifting his head.

Sensei nodded, "Okay. Naruto, Sasuke, Ryoko… You three guard Tazuna-san next time as well."

"YES!" Naruto tried to raise an arm, but lost his balance, causing him, Sasuke and Ryoko to fall on the floor.

"You idiot." Sasuke said, but even Ryoko could tell he was happy inside.

Sensei and Tazuna's family, with Inari's exception, laughed.

They ate Tsunami's food with a voracious appetite. "The bridge is almost complete." Tazuna told us. "It's thanks to you."

"But don't push yourself too much." Tsunami added.

"I wanted to ask this before, but why are you still here even when I lied about the request details?"

"_'Not doing right when you know its right is a coward's way._' _'There are no weak soldiers under a valiant commander.'_" Kakashi-sensei recited. "They are the teachings of the previous Hokage."

Inari glanced at Naruto, who was laying his head on the table with his eyes closed, and lowered his head. Ryoko watched as tears fell from his eyes. It was so sudden; what had brought him to this.

"Inari-" Ryoko started.

"Why…" Inari asked his voice barely above a whisper.

Naruto lifted his head, "Uh? Nani?"

Inari slammed his hands on the table, "Why are you trying so hard that you end up like that?! You can't beat Gato's men even if you train! Now matter how hard you try and say those good words… Weak people are going to lose against strong people!"

Everyone watched with wide eyes Inari's outburst.

Naruto was the only one who didn't seem affected at all, "Shut up. I'm different from you!"

"Shut up! It pisses me off when I watch you! You don't know anything about this country and you're so nosy! I'm different from you, someone who doesn't know any real pain and just laughs all the time!"

"You are different, but for another reason." Ryoko stated calmly. Inari turned to look at her. "Differently from you, Naruto is doing something against Gato, not just crying and playing the victim."

"Shut up, you too! None of you know what real pain is!"

"_Don't assume_ you know people when you don't." Was her cold reply. _'No matter how much Inari has suffered, he can't act like this. And he needs to learn that.'_

"An idiot like you can just keep crying!" Naruto said, as coldly as Ryoko. "Crybaby!"

Naruto left it at that and left for his room. Inari was still crying. Ryoko sighed and excused herself as well.

~~~~~~*********

Inari sat with his knees to his chest. The tip of his sandals went past the wood flooring stretching off the house. The water rippled silently. Ryoko watched the stars silently from the rooftop until Kakashi-sensei came outside. Inari looked up at him as Kakashi sat down.

"Naruto didn't mean any harm by what he said; sometimes he just says things without thinking. We were told the story of your father. Like you, Naruto grew up without a father too. In fact, he didn't know either of his parents. But, I've never seen him cry, sulk or give up. He's always trying his best to get people to look his way. For that dream, he'd risk his life without a second thought."

Inari looked away from Kakashi to the water. After a moment he looked back to Kakashi.

"But...Ryoko?"

Ryoko perked her head up at the sound of her name. She turned over onto her stomach to where they were sitting to hear what Kakashi-sensei would say about her.

Kakashi closed his eye for a second, "Ryoko's a little different. She's a lot more quiet than Naruto, but a lot the same. Both her parents were killed, along with her entire clan, when she was younger and she really only had one true friend and another friend that she talks to. She's doing everything in her power to achieve it. She often pretends nothing is wrong and just keeps a mask on her face. I've never seen Ryoko let her guard down completely…and when you shouted out like you did, it must have insulted her, as if you were calling her weak."

Inari looked back out at the water. Ryoko eyes softened slightly as she turned on her back again to watch the moon.

"They both know what it means to be strong, just like your father. The two of them probably know exactly what you're going through. The thing Naruto said to you earlier...he's probably said to himself a million times." Kakashi looked toward the ocean,

"He's used his body up to its limit. I don't think he'll be able to move around," Kakashi and Inari walked back inside the house, leaving Ryoko by herself. She looked up to the moon and stars, a habit she got from Shikamaru. _'Kakashi-sensei sure knows his stuff.'_

NEXT DAY-MORNING

Team seven, minus one and including Tazuna, were assembled outside. Tsunami stood in front of them, seeing them off.

"Kakashi, your body is okay?" she asked. Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just let Naruto stay here and rest." Tsunami nodded and the group was off.

(One scene change later….)

"What's this?!" Tazuna exclaimed in surprise.

All the people who worked on the bridge lay on the ground with serious wounds. Someone had attacked them before they arrived. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"It can't be…" Kakashi-sensei whispers.

A thick mist started to surround us. Just like last time.

"Sasuke, Ryoko, he's coming!" Kakashi-sensei warned as them as they took out their kunai.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi." Zabuza's voice spoke, coming from nowhere. "And you're still carrying those kids."

"I liked it more when he was dead." Ryoko stated glaring at the mist.

"He's shaking again, how pitiful." Ryoko glanced over to her left and saw that he was talking about Sasuke.

The next second we were surrounded by five of Zabuza's Mizu Bunshin. The Uchiha smirked. "I'm shaking with excitement."

The Mizu Bunshin's eyes narrowed.

"Go for it, Sasuke." Kakashi-sensei said.

"Can I go for it too?" Ryoko asked hopefully.

"Only if things get really bad. I need you to guard Tazuna too."

Ryoko groaned a little, but gave in.

Sasuke swung his kunai swiftly, slashing all the clones. They turned into water again and they could see the real Zabuza wasn't there.

"He can defeat Mizu Bunshin." Zabuza voiced. "That kid got stronger." Zabuza and the masked kid from before appeared a few feet away from them. "A rival has appeared for you, Haku."

"It seems like it." The masked boy, Haku, said with his uncommon soft voice.

"…My prediction was right." Kakashi-sensei said in a calm tone.

"Your prediction?" Zabuza mocked.

"The masked guy."

"Just as I thought too." Sasuke agreed.

"Ditto." Ryoko said, glaring at Haku.

"So it was a lie that he was a pursuing ninja from Kirigakure." Tazuna concluded.

"Yup. That's right." Ryoko said.

"He's on Zabuza's side no matter how you look at it." Kakashi-sensei said.

"I'll fight him." Sasuke decided.

"What? You took out the clones already! Let me fight the mask guy!" Ryoko complained glaring at Sasuke.

Sensei sighed, but nodded to Sasuke anyway.

Without waiting one more second, Haku rushed towards them with an amazing speed. Their eyes couldn't follow it and the mist didn't help either. Fortunately, Sasuke had good reflexes. He quickly took out a kunai and blocked Haku's senbon.

"Ryoko, stick with Tazuna-san and don't get too far from me." Kakashi-sensei instructed, "…if things don't go as we plan, wait for my sign."

Ryoko smirked, "Roger!"

Sasuke and Haku spun around, blocking each others' attacks.

"I don't want to kill you, but you won't back off, right?" Haku asked.

"What are you, stupid?" Sasuke snapped back. Jerk. Even before an enemy he didn't lose his arrogance.

"As I thought. But you won't be able to keep up with me for my next move. And I'm already two steps ahead of you."

"Two steps ahead?"

"The first one is the water on the ground. And the second one is that I'm keeping one of your arms busy. Therefore, you can only take and block my attacks."

They frowned. But one of his arms is busy too, how can he-

Then they saw something they've never saw before…Haku making seals with only one hand!!

"Flying Waterfall of a Thousand Kills!" Haku stomped on a water puddle making droplets of water turn into several senbons. The senbon rushed towards him. Sasuke avoided them all by focusing the chakra to his feet to give him an extra boost in jumping distance. The extra burst of chakra disrupted Haku's jutsu. Haku jumped back, confused as to how Sasuke did it. Sasuke took that moment to toss shuriken. Haku expertly did a series of black flips to avoid each shuriken. While Haku tried to recover, Sasuke appeared behind him with a smirk on his face.

"You're pretty slow. Now you can only receive and block my attacks." He mocked, taking out his kunai.

Senbon and kunai were held against each other one more time. Sasuke then threw another kunai at Haku and, while he avoided it, kicked him on the face. Ryoko grinned as Haku fell backwards. _'Way to go, Uchiha.'_

"Looks like my speed's better." Sasuke said.

"You can't underestimate my team." Kakashi-sensei said, "Sasuke is the village's top rookie." Sasuke's smirk widened. "Ryoko is the top female rookie of the village." Ryoko grinned. "And Naruto is the most hyperactive unpredictable smart-mouthed ninja of Konoha."

Zabuza chuckled. That evil stupid chuckle of his.

"Haku, do you understand that you're going to get defeated like this?" He asked.

"Yes." He answered, rising up again. An intense flow of chakra involved him. "It's a shame."

"It's… cold air." Ryoko heard Sasuke's whisper.

Haku made a seal.

A giant ice wall started to rise behind Sasuke and in some seconds it had surrounded him.

"Mirror of Ice Crystals." Haku said. He lowered his hands and the ice mirrors glowed. He stepped forward and entered the ice mirrors.

"Nani?" Ryoko asked, staring at the scene with wide eyes.

Haku's image started to fill the mirrors, one by one. Sasuke watched shocked as the Kiri boy surrounded him.

"Damn it." Kakashi-sensei said, running to help him.

Suddenly Zabuza appeared in front of him, "I'm your opponent, remember?"

Sensei turned to Ryoko, gesturing her to go.

"About time!"

Zabuza's eyes narrowed as Ryoko rushed towards the mirrors. He swung his huge sword and tried to hit her, but she quickly jumped forward, flipping twice before landing on the ground. Without hesitation, she did the hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Several of my clones appeared, one for each mirror.

"Now I'll show you my true speed." She heard Haku saying inside the mirrors. He hadn't noticed her. Her cat like eyes narrowed as Haku started to move. He leaned forward and Ryoko noticed part of him was out of the mirror. He was coming out. Perfect. Ryoko and her clones immediately threw kunai. Haku hadn't seen that fast enough to avoid it, but he was still really fast. Haku went back to the mirror with some minor cuts. Ryoko frowned. _'I need to attract him out of the mirrors. But how the heck am I supposed to do that?'_

She blinked. When she did the mirrors were empty.

"Damn." She cursed, instinctively turning around and throwing a punch at whatever probably was behind her. Haku caught it.

"Good reflex." He said. Her doppelgangers rushed to attack him, but it was useless. He had already gotten the real one. She tried to kick him his chest, but Haku jumped and threw her inside the area surrounded by the mirrors along with Sasuke.

"Good help you were." Sasuke mumbled sarcastically.

Ryoko glared at him, standing up, "At least _I _put a scratch on him."

"You didn't last a minute."

"Oh please! I lasted two minutes!" She declared proudly.

"Yeah, right."

"Okay! I've had it about up to here -"

"SASUKE, RYOKO! FOCUS!" They heard Kakashi-sensei yell from beyond the ice mirrors. Sasuke and Ryoko glared at each other one last time and turned to face Haku, who had returned to the mirrors.

"Now we shall begin." He said.

The next thing Ryoko saw was a senbon going through Sasuke's shirt, almost hitting his arm. Before she could react, another one scraped her leg. One hit Sasuke's hand, causing him to release the kunai he was holding. The blade flew away out of the mirror's trap. Lots of senbon were thrown at them, piercing their bodies, but not enough to kill them.

Sasuke raised his hand to do something, but was too weak for it. Ryoko took a good glance at him. His forehead was bleeding and his skin was covered with multiple cuts and bruises.

"Crap." She cursed, slowing getting up. She felt my body getting heavier.

Suddenly a shuriken came from nowhere and hit Haku's mask, causing him to fall out of the mirror. Their eyes widened as a huge cloud of smoke appeared beside Haku's mirror technique. It could only be one person.

"That idiot…" Sasuke mumbled.

"Uzumaki Naruto is here!" Naruto proclaimed on his superhero pose. "Now that I'm here everything's going to be just fine! The main character usually appears like this and defeats the enemy in a flash!"

Ryoko sweat dropped, "Uh…Naruto…? ....This is really not the time!"

"Uh? Hey, Ryoko!" He waved. "Woah, you look awful!"

The sweat drop grew bigger, "Gee, thanks…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Alright, let's do it! Kage Bunshin-" Before he could complete the jutsu Zabuza turned around and threw a bunch of shuriken at him. Sensei's eyes widened.

"Dodge it, Naruto!"

Naruto just stared at the weapons coming at him, paralyzed. But he didn't really need to dodge. Haku threw senbon at the shuriken, causing them to fall on the ground before they could hit Naruto.

Zabuza's eyes narrowed, "Haku, what's the meaning of that?"

"Zabuza-san, leave him to me. Please let me do this fight my way."

Zabuza chuckled, "So you don't want me to interfere, Haku. As usual, you're too easy on the enemy."

"That mask…" Naruto whispered, realizing who the masked kid was. "How dare you trick us?!"

"I'm sorry." Haku said, lowering his head. "But the duty of a ninja is to deceive and to find an unguarded spot. Please do not take it personally."

Taking advantage of the enemy's distraction, Sasuke quickly took out a kunai and threw it at Haku. The boy simply inclined his head backwards, avoiding the weapon. Sasuke curse under his breath.

"I didn't forget about you two." Haku said. "I would have liked for you to just lie there quietly, but I guess I can't expect that. Very well. I'll finish the match with you first." Haku turned away from Naruto and walked towards the mirrors.

"H-Hey!" Naruto complained, not wanting to be ignored.

"Naruto-kun, I'll deal with you later." And with that Haku entered the ice mirror again. Sasuke and Ryoko were soon surrounded by lots of Haku's inside the mirrors.

"We might have a chance if we attack from inside and Naruto from outside." Sasuke whispered to her. Ryoko nodded in agreement.

"Hey, I came to help you!" Naruto declared appearing **in front** of them.

Ryoko's face went pale. Sasuke and Ryoko stared at Naruto with 'please-tell-me-he-really-didn't-just-jump-in-here-with-us faces.

"Hey, you two alright? What's with the faces?"

Sasuke growled in frustration, "You idiot! If you're a ninja you should be more careful!"

"What's with that attitude? I came to help you!" Naruto justified.

"If you come into the mirrors as well- Damn it. Forget it, idiot."

"Idiot?! What do you mean with that?!"

"You shouldn't have come inside, now you're trapped here with us!" Ryoko explained.

"I'll just have to destroy the mirrors then." Sasuke growled.

"And how are you supposed to do that?" Ryoko asked.

He did some very familiar seals. "These mirrors are made of frozen water. Then…Fire style: Fire-ball Jutsu!"

Naruto and Ryoko stepped backwards as huge flames came out of Sasuke's mouth towards the mirrors. Now, as if the mirrors weren't bad enough, fire also surrounded us. The heat inside the trap soon became unbearable. But still none of the mirrors melted.

As soon as he noticed it wasn't working Sasuke undid the jutsu and the flames gladly vanished. Naruto glared angrily at him.

"It didn't work at all!"

"It won't melt with that kind of fire power." Haku said emotionlessly, causing Sasuke to clench his teeth. Haku lifted his senbon. The pain of the blades cutting them came again, as strong as before. They were thrown backwards by the force of the attack.

Naruto quickly sat up, "Damn it, where is he attacking from?" He questioned, looking around. "Are those replications? Where's the real one?"

"There's no use in trying to follow me with your eyes." Haku calmly stated. "I will never be caught."

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, making his clones.

"Stop it!" Sasuke yelled.

"Then I'll destroy all the mirrors and see which one is real!" Naruto's clones jumped towards the mirrors with fists raised. Everything happened too fast then.

All they saw was a gray blur that they assumed to be Haku, moving between Naruto and his clones. In a few seconds the clones vanished and the real Naruto fell on the ground again.

"Naruto!" Ryoko exclaimed checking his state. Fortunately Haku hadn't done much damage. Her question was: How had he done it?

"This is a traveling technique which utilizes mirror reflections that only reflect me." Haku said, unconsciously answering my question. "From my speed, you three look like you're standing still."

Naruto lowered his head, "Damn it… I can't die here. I still have a dream I need to achieve… The dream to make the villagers recognize me and become the Hokage!"

Ryoko nodded, "That's right. We all have dreams and important goals. That's why we won't die here without a fight!"

Haku stared at us for a while. "It's difficult for me to become a full ninja." He finally spoke up. "If it's possible, I do not want to kill you and I don't want to make you kill me. However, if you're going to fight me, I will kill my compassion with a blade and become a ninja. This bridge is a battleground that leads to the dreams of many people. I will fight for my dream. And you will fight for your dream. Please do not hold any grudges. I want to protect an important person. I want to work for him, fight for him, and make his dreams come true. That is my dream. In order to make it come true, I will become a ninja. I'll kill you!"

Sasuke, Naruto and Ryoko smirked. If that guy thought they could die so easily he was seriously mistaking.

"Just because I screwed up the first time doesn't mean I'm going to quit!" Naruto said. "I'll try as many times as I have to! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Just like the last time, Naruto's Kage Bunshin launched towards the mirrors and Haku's blur sliced all of them. But there was a difference this time: before getting back to his mirror, Haku threw a bunch of senbon at Sasuke and me. I clenched my teeth in pain.

"We have to try another method." I said as Naruto landed beside me.

"No, wait." Sasuke said. He turned to Naruto. "Use your Kage Bunshin again."

The blond nodded, "Yosh!"

Ryoko stared at Sasuke with furrowed eyebrows, "You'd better have a good plan."

The Uchiha smirked.

"Believe me, I do."

* * *

-Continued-

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled again as more Naruto's appeared. This time Sasuke didn't stop him. Ryoko looked over to Sasuke to find him doing familiar hand signs. As the Naruto's began to disappear, fire shot from Sasuke's mouth. The blurs were becoming more visible now. Ryoko was certain it was Haku. All the Naruto's disappeared, along with the blur and Naruto flew past them. Haku reappeared in a mirror.

"Naruto!" Ryoko ran over to him. Kneeling down, she put a hand on his shoulder to help him sit up.

"Slowly… but I'm starting to get the timing down" Sasuke smirked.

Ryoko gave a questioning look to the smirk on Sasuke's face as she and Naruto stood beside him. She turned her attention back to Haku.

_'He… tracked my movements? That can't be...'_ Haku thought.

"Dammit, we were close…" Naruto cursed.

Then she caught it. On Haku's left leg, the bottom of his pants was singed. She looked over to Sasuke, _'Sasuke got him? But… how?'_ Ryoko's eyes widen, _'The Sharingan!'_

"What are you doing Ryoko?! Get out of here!" Sasuke shouted.

Rayne stood her ground, "I've never really listened to you before, Uchiha." Sasuke growled and Ryoko smirked. "Besides, even if I did why would I leave you here, huh?" She saw Naruto running to his left only to get knocked out again.

"There!" As Haku neared Naruto Ryoko shot a Kunai. Haku was almost hit but dodged just in time.

"Dammit!" Sasuke eyes widened as needles pierced him. As Haku landed in front of Naruto and blasted him back, Sasuke took a needle from his shoulder. He kneeled and started to pull the needles from his body.

"Aaahhh!!"

Sasuke looked over to find Ryoko rolling back to him. "Ryoko?" Sasuke asked, with worry in his voice. Blood was dripping from her mouth as she struggled to sit up.

"I-I'm fine..." she said managing to sit up on her knees.

Naruto stood up from beside him, "Dammit!"

"That was good..." Sasuke said standing up after tossing a needle away.

"What?" They looked at him as though he had lost his mind.

"Let's do it again," he commanded. "One more time."

"Okay!" Naruto agreed with new found strength.

Sasuke looked over to Ryoko who was struggling to stand up. _'She can't handle much more so we have to make this count.'_ He offered her his hand. Ryoko hesitated before taking his hand and allowed him pulled her up. Ryoko wiped the blood from her mouth as she looked at Haku.

"Okay, let's do it." Naruto let out a battle cry and ran left. Ryoko nodded and ran toward the right, trying to get out of the mirror trap.

She ran forward, heart pounding. She noticed that she had definitely slowed down. Before she got any closer to escaping, she heard the familiar yell of Sasuke from her right and stopped.

"Uchiha!" The second she yelled out as several needles pierced her skin.

Naruto yelled out too from somewhere to my left.

*Kakashi*

'_It's been a while since I've been in a battle like this...I need to help Sasuke, Naruto and Ryoko but…'_ I glanced back at Tazuna. I faced forward and closed my eyes.

_'Be calm. Think, where will he be most likely to strike?'_ My eyes snapped opened and I turned my head around. Tazuna gasped as Zabuza appeared behind them. He raised his sword but I appeared in between the two. Blood splattered as Tazuna yelled.

*Genin and Haku*

"Tazuna!" Sasuke and Ryoko's head snapped to the left side of the mirrors. Ryoko, Sasuke and Naruto were all, once again, in the center of the ice dome. Sasuke was on her right, kneeling as he pulled some needles from his body.

"Oh man..." Naruto murmured as he lay on Sasuke's right. Ryoko looked at Haku then over at her teammates.

"We have to do something..." Naruto weakly got to his knees then to his feet.

Ryoko watched him in awe.

"Let's go!"

Sasuke looked shocked, "H-how...? H-he..."

Ryoko watched as Naruto ran forward. He was blocked off by Haku so he did a back flip and ran backwards. But it was no use; Haku matched every move he made.

"Naruto! Behind you!" Sasuke shouted as Haku stopped and pointed needles at Naruto. Naruto screamed out as he was hit.

"Naruto!"

"It's impossible to get out of here," Haku said.

Ryoko got up and ran over to Naruto, Sasuke following. She kneeled down by him, holding her bleeding side.

"Naruto, can you stand up?" Sasuke asked, kneeling by him.

"You can't waste chakra like that Naruto. That's what he wants us to do," Ryoko told him.

"I...know...that…" Naruto said then fainted.

"Crap..." Ryoko looked over to the mirror that held Haku. She let out a small gasp as suddenly, needles were sent at them. Sasuke picked up a needle and stood in front of her, blocking all the oncoming needles.

"Sasuke..." Ryoko closed her eyes helplessly. _'There has to be something…'_

_'This time, I was aiming for vital areas...and he blocked them all...'_ Haku looked over at Ryoko. "And they weren't even sent at him."

Ryoko stood as Naruto struggled to his feet as well. Haku sent needles at them. She narrowed her eyes as she hugged Naruto close letting the needles pierce her instead.

"Ryoko!" Sasuke shouted.

She looked at him with tired pained eyes. "We're fine!" She yelled back pulling out a needle back to defend herself.

Haku threw more needles at Sasuke who managed to block all of them while Ryoko was hit by two. She ran toward Naruto, "Come on Naruto, don't give out on me!"

"I...w-won't…" Naruto told her but the next second his eyes closed again.

"Naruto!" She glared at Haku as he started to laugh.

"Looks like that boy has reached his limit..." Haku looked at Sasuke and spoke to him. Ryoko was too busy trying to shake Naruto awake to actually listen. She gasps though when she saw Haku send needles at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged but that drove him further away from her and Naruto.

"Movement reflexes and analyzing...all of your senses will soon be dulled," Haku said to Sasuke as he raised a hand full of needles. Ryoko jumped with surprise as the needles were sent at them. She picked up Naruto and jumped back while trying to block them however some still hit her. An arm wrapped around Rayne's waist and pulled her out of the way of the needles. She looked up as she and Naruto were set down. Sasuke hovered over them, glaring at Haku. Ryoko stood up and her eyes widen in surprised.

_'His eyes, they're red! They're the...'_

"Sharingan..." Sasuke smirked, realizing he had finally obtained the power of the Uchiha.

"I see...so you also possess a kekkei genkai," Haku commented.

_'So his ability was awakened during battle? This means I cannot fight him for much longer. If I do, he will start to predict my movements...'_ Haku thought. Haku sent an attack at Sasuke which he dodged with ease by jumping right.

*Kakashi*

Blood dripped from the wound that my hand grasped.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Tazuna exclaimed from behind me.

"You were slow to guard yourself, Kakashi. Your wish to help those kids got the best of you," Zabuza spoke from in front of me. I glared. My Sharingan was completely useless now. With such dense fog, there was no way it could read any movements. Zabuza picked up his sword.

"Haku will be finished with those brats soon. You can forever apologize for failing them when you meet again." I scowled as Zabuza began to disappear in the fog.

"I believe in their power." I spoke out into the mist so Zabuza could hear.

"Naruto...is the number one hyper-active ninja..." There was silence but I continued.

"And then there's Sasuke, from Konoha's most superior clan..."

"So he's..." I heard Zabuza's voice.

"Yes, his full name is...Uchiha Sasuke. He is the genius ninja that possesses the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha."

"He's a survivor of the clan tragedy?" Zabuza spoke from somewhere in the mist. Images of Sasuke and Haku fighting flooded back to him.

"So that is why he learned so fast..." Zabuza understood.

"And then we have Koneko Ryoko," I smirked.

"Koneko..."

"That's right. I haven't even seen the full extent of her power…but she has potential"

"Your students are good. But Haku...is better," Zabuza said. "No one has been able to defeat Haku's technique."

"I have to put an end to this..."

"Tazuna, don't move," I ordered.

"O-okay!"

I ran forward into the mist.

*Genin and Haku*

"Uchiha! Behind you!"

Sasuke turned around to block an attack, but he couldn't turn around fast enough to block the ones from behind him. The attack could've been fatal to him…………..if it weren't for Ryoko's quick acting. She used her body as a shield to protect Sasuke's blind spot. Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw Ryoko slouch from the onslaught of attacks.

"Oi Uchiha…" She called softly.

Sasuke snapped out of his shock daze.

"You messed up…" she stated before she slowly fell to her knees.

Sasuke caught her head with his left arm and supported her waist with his right arm and body. She had needles everywhere, along with some crystal pieces.

"Why'd you do that, stupid!?" He shouted angrily. _'I shouldn't be feeling this. I shouldn't be so worked up, so defenseless since that mask kid was still there and can attack any minute. I shouldn't feel the want to cry! I shouldn't be trying to hold back tears! They're not supposed to be there!'_

"I couldn't live with myself… knowing that Sakura and Ino and all your fans will cry forever with you gone…" her eyes glazed over as she whispered.

Sasuke heard Naruto shifting over towards them.

"You stupid girl…" He said softly. He strokes her hand while Naruto came closer.

"What about your clan?" He asked softly.

"I guess…It's completely gone now…" She answered.

"Don't talk like that." Naruto begged softly.

Ryoko was finding it difficult to stay awake. "Not matter what… you two have to promise me that you'll never give up on your dreams…"

Naruto slumped next to her and took her other hand.

"Promise me…" she asked again.

Both Naruto and Sasuke nodded. She gave them a smile, a true smile.

"Naruto…you're like another brother to me… my family…even though you were annoying at times…you were my first real friend…

Sasuke felt her face, tears coming down. She then gave one final look at both of them and closed her eyes.

"I hated you Sasuke…" Sasuke inhaled sharply when he heard Ryoko use his first name. "I hated you because of that accident…and because we had so much in common…" Her breath shortens. "But as we started working together…I actually started to……" She couldn't say anything else. Her hand went limp in their hands and her head tilted to the side, facing away from Naruto and towards Sasuke's chest.

(That's right my friend. I killed you and you won't be coming back!MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!................HA! That's what happens when you torture me to death by hugs and poking me in the sides!)

"Was this the first time you've seen your friends die?" Sasuke glared at Haku with hatred. He still had his Sharingan activated and noticed that needles were aimed for Naruto this time. Naruto gasps and closed his eyes. Sasuke only reacted on instinct and ran towards Naruto to protect him from the needle attack.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw Sasuke in front of him wounded.

"Sasuke...?"

"You...total...moron..." He spoke turning to face Naruto. A trail of blood ran from his mouth.

"Why did…" Naruto whispered eyes wide. "Why did you save me?"

"How should I know…?" Sasuke spoke weakly as he...smiled. He looked forward, eyes glazing over.

Sasuke smiled and used the same words Ryoko had used, "I... hated you..."

"Then why!?! Why save me!? You should mind your own business!!" Naruto yelled, trying to keep his voice from cracking.

"My body just… moved on its own… fool…" He began to sway and fall backwards. Naruto scrambled forward and caught him before he hit the ground.

"I...promised myself...I wouldn't die until...I killed that man...my brother... but don't you dare die…" Naruto felt that he was losing Sasuke the same way he lost Ryoko. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke looked over at Ryoko, taking in her face one last time, "…Naruto…"

Naruto somehow understood, "I'll put you next to her." He smiled, then tilted his head back and went limp. Naruto took him and put him a few feet away from Ryoko. Through half-lidded eyes, Sasuke took in Ryoko's sleeping face. His hand twitched and moved over slightly in order to reach and touch hers. Naruto noticed that Sasuke couldn't do it on his own, so he helped Sasuke by placing his hand on top of Ryoko's. The moment Sasuke's hand touches Ryoko's he had closed his eyes completely.

Naruto spent a moment, looking at both of them; both of their faces were unmoving, so lifeless. _'I used to hate you too…'_ Naruto thought to Sasuke. Looking at Ryoko I thought of how she came to me. _'I think of you as my family too…'_

"They were shinobi worthy of the utmost respect… who in order to protect someone they cared about, threw themselves headlong into what they knew full well was a trap. This is such a path for a ninja." Haku said to Naruto getting up and retreating into the mirror.

"Ryoko sacrifice herself for Sasuke and me…. Sasuke sacrifice himself for me…." Naruto spoke, his voice changed gruffly. "I'm never gonna forgive you for this!" He crouched down over the two bodies. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!" The blood lust look on his face spelled out Nine-Tailed Fox! Naruto was on all fours. He looked different now. The thin whiskers that usually resided on his face became more noticeable and thicker. His eyes shown blood red with silted blue pupils. He stood on all fours, his nails long and bared newly founded fangs. Naruto closed his eyes as more chakra started to surround him. It was red, looking like fire as it swirled around Naruto. Naruto glared at Haku in pure hatred. "You're going to pay!!!" Naruto's voice was cracked.

"Th-this boy. The aurora about him is completely different! The only thing within him is bloodlust now!" Haku started to fear. Naruto started charging at Haku. He had such immense speed! Everything was happening too fast, even to Haku!! Haku gasped and threw a tracker needle at Naruto. With a burst of chakra, the needle was deflected and it fell harmlessly to the floor.

"Nani!?" Haku disappeared from his mirror as Naruto charged to it and broke it to pieces with a single punch. Haku's mind raced as he appeared in all of the mirrors. He raised one hand and sent out needles from every direction. All the needles pierced into Naruto's back, he hunched over. The next second, Naruto stood and with a battle cry, all the needles flew out of him with a large burst of chakra. Haku held an arm in front of himself and was forced back into one mirror. Naruto ran at it and punch the mirror to shards. The little pieces flew everywhere as Haku flew out of the mirror and headed at Naruto with a kunai. Naruto jumped, spinning in the air as Haku drove the kunai into the ground, making a large hole. Naruto's feet touched the pavement and he skidded back, his eyes never leaving Haku.

"This isn't good!" Haku went to retreat into a near mirror but his arm was caught. Haku looked in fear as he was swung around by Naruto.

Outside of the mirror dome, Kakashi watched astonished.

"Did the seal break?" Kakashi questioned himself. His worst fear at the moment: Naruto's seal breaking.

"No...It hasn't broken yet...but it's about to. I can feel it, the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra is leaking through, and Naruto must be using it. As long as the seal isn't completely broken yet..." Kakashi unbuttoned a pocket on his Jounin vest. A scroll slid out and Kakashi tossed it in the air, the scroll unraveling. Kakashi wiped blood on his left thumb and spread the blood in a line on the scroll as it opened. "Can you hear me Zabuza? Sorry to ruin your fun, but how about we end this sooner?" Kakashi spun the scroll around him self and around his arms as he talked. After a moment he held the scroll in his hand, retied together. Kakashi put his hands together in a praying gesture but with both his index fingers pointing up. His thumbs held onto the scroll as he closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Interesting...but what can you possibly do? Show me what you can do Kakashi." Zabuza's voice echoed through the mist.

Naruto's hand squeezed Haku's arm, almost breaking it. His chakra was so strong, you could see it generating of his body. Naruto's chakra became so immense it pounded against the mirrors, shattering them into small pieces. The pieces flew everywhere, scratching at the two ninjas fighting.

_'I cannot hold back his powers!'_ Haku thought, holding his free hand in a hand sign. Naruto's free hand turned into a fist as he pulled his arm back and punches Haku in the face. Haku flew out of the dome, shattering through one of the mirrors that weren't broken. Haku impacted with the ground, rolling and skidding on his body. A crack appeared in the middle of his mask. Naruto stood at the edge of the dome, hunched over. Any mirrors that weren't broken began to shatter, pieces raining down. Some scratched Sasuke while others stabbed Ryoko. Everything happened in slow motion for Haku.

"Zabuza..." Haku's mask broke and began to fall off as Naruto let out a battle cry and charged. "I cannot compete with him..."

Naruto leaped, pulling back his fist as the other side of Haku's mask began to fall. A small 'clunk sound' was made as the second half of Haku's mask hit the ground. Naruto was slightly hunched; staring and his fist an inch away from Haku's face. Haku stared at Naruto, whose eyes were their regular sky blue and everything about him was once more, human.

"You're the guy...from before..." Naruto said. A flashback of Haku in the pink kimono from yesterday's morning came to his head.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked. "I killed two people important to you and yet, you cannot kill me?"

Naruto looked back to Sasuke, lying on the ground next to Ryoko. Naruto turned back to Haku. With an angry cry, he punches Haku on the side of the face. Haku stumbled backwards, and fell to the ground face first. Haku pushed himself up half way, coughing out blood. Naruto breathed heavily, staring at the ground.

"Where did your energy go? You cannot wish to defeat me at the state you are now..." Haku told Naruto, getting into a kneeling position. Haku wiped away blood from his face.

"Were they not important to you?" Haku stood up, wobbly at first. "There are people who make a bad decision. They fail to defeat the enemy. Show them mercy and decide not to take his life...If you ask me, doing something like that is not being merciful. Do you know the pain of living without a dream? Knowing you're not needed by anyone?" Haku spoke.

"What are you saying?" Naruto asked.

"Zabuza has no need for a weak ninja. You have stolen my reason for existence..." Haku answered.

"Why? Why do you fight for a guy like that!? He's nothing but evil, a horrible person! Is he the only person who is important to you!?" Naruto was mad at that fact.

"I had people who were important to me...a long time ago..." Haku responded. "My...parents...I was born in a small village of the Country of Water where it was always snowing. All we did was farm, but we were happy. Poor...but my parents were happy. My parents were kind...and I was happy." Haku stared blankly at Naruto as the images went away. "But when I took notice of my surroundings… Something happened..."

"Something happened? What? What happened?" Naruto asked. Haku wiped the blood away from my mouth and looked at it. "This blood..."

"Blood?" Naruto echoed.

Haku was silent until Naruto asked again. "What? What happened!?"

Haku looked at him once more, showing no emotion. "My father killed my mother, and tried to kill me." Naruto gasped.

"The Country of the Water has been through many civil wars, and those who possess a kekkei genkai were hated."

"Kekkei genkai?" Naruto questioned.

"It is passed down from parent to child, or grandparent to grandchild. It's a special technique that is passed down the family. Because of the special abilities they possessed, the families were used in many disputes and even their country forced them to be the harbingers of disasters and wars. After the wars, those families hid their special abilities and lived on. The reason: only death awaited them were their abilities revealed. That boy and girl probably know what I speak of..." Haku explained, glancing at Naruto's comrades. Naruto looked back at them as well.

"Those who possess kekkei genkai are feared by everyone. My mother possessed a kekkei genkai. She kept it secret, and married my father and must have believed she could have an ordinary life for a while...forever...But my father had seen, now he knew about our secret, my mother's and mine...When I came to, I realized I had killed my own father. And it was then that I also realized I was feeling the most horrible feeling one could feel..."

"Most painful feeling?" Naruto questioned.

"The feeling that you are not needed by anyone..."

Naruto's eyes widened. _'He is the same as me...'_

"You said to me: 'I want to become the number one ninja of my village and make everyone recognize me'. When someone who accepts you from the bottom of their heart appears, that person should become the most important person to you. Zabuza knew that I came from a family with a kekkei genkai and raised me. He wanted my ability that everyone else hated. I...was happy..." Haku spoke, in a daze. "I am sorry Zabuza; I couldn't be the tool you wished for me to be..." Haku started to walk towards Naruto, who took a step back. "Naruto...please kill me..."

Kakashi stood in the mist, his hands together with the scroll held by his thumbs. He started doing hand scrolls, not even dropping the scroll.

"Summoning jutsu: Earth element: Dogging Fangs!" Kakashi slammed the scroll on the ground. The words on the scroll came out of the scroll, snaking along the ground like chains.

"Whatever you do, it is pointless. You cannot do anything to me if you cannot see me," Zabuza's taunted. Suddenly the ground around Zabuza began to crack and dogs from all around leapt at him. They latched onto his body. Growling reached Sakura's and Tazuna's ears.

"W-what's going on?" Tazuna asked. Kakashi stood up, leaving the scroll on the ground.

"I may not be able to see you or hear you, but there is still the nose." The clear started to clear from around Zabuza. About a dozen dogs were hooking onto Zabuza using teeth and claws.

"I let your attacks reach me on purpose. That way my blood got onto your blade and my ninja dogs could smell that." Kakashi put his hand to his ear. "The mist has cleared. Your future is death. Zabuza, you fooled around too much. Your ambitions were too big. You failed in the assassination of the Mizukage. You ran away with the few followers you had and became an exile ninja. The news of your whereabouts reached the village of Konoha. For money, you even lowered yourself to working for a vermin like Gato." Kakashi continued. "Do you think I survived just using my Sharingan? I'll show you my original technique, not just some copy." Kakashi began forming hand seal. Ending with his palm facing up; blue chakra began gathering in his hand. Streaks shot out of his like lightning.

"Lightning Blade!" Kakashi held his chakra in his hand, glaring at Zabuza. "I'll say it again, your future is death."

* * *

"Please kill me..."

Naruto only stared.

"Why do you hesitate?"

Naruto clenched his fist and stepped, "I can't believe that bull story! Weapon? Tool? How can you call a person like that important!?"

"Is it wrong?" Haku asked. "What's wrong with that?

"B-but...that's..."

"Zabuza had hopes for me. He needed me..." Flashbacks ran through Haku's head. "But I have lost the purpose that made me, me. Zabuza will no longer need me. That is why I am asking you...kill me."

Naruto stepped back but Haku just stepped toward him again. "Please, hurry, do it now!"

"Why are you hesitating?" Haku asked as Naruto just stepped back, eyes quivering.

"I-I don't understand! Is being strong the only reason for you to be alive!? Something other than fighting...you could be known for something else!" Naruto spoke to Haku. Haku just stood there.

"The day I met you in the forest, I thought you were like me..." Naruto's eyes shook as Haku continued.

"You should be able to understand. I am sorry you will have to stain your hands."

"Is...is this, the only way?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Yes." Naruto bowed his head and closed his eyes.

"If we had met under different circumstances...we could have been friends..." Naruto's eyes opened. As he pulled out a kunai, he charged at Haku.

_'Please, fulfill your own dreams…'_ Haku thought as Naruto drew closer. Naruto's mind went to Sasuke, his cold body laying on the ground. "He...he also had dreams!" Naruto's mind wanders to Ryoko. "And so...so did Ryoko!" The kunai in Naruto's hand gleamed as he rushed towards Haku.

Haku smiled. "Thank you..." Haku closed his eyes. "You will become strong..."

"The mist is starting to clear..." Tazuna observed from behind Kakashi. "It looks like two people are fighting over there. It looks like they're just standing...staring at each other..."

Haku's eyes suddenly snapped open. As Naruto's kunai came at Haku, Haku caught Naruto's hand. Naruto's eyes widened.

"I am sorry, Naruto..." Haku began performing hand signs. "I cannot die yet..." and Haku disappeared. Kakashi charged, ball of lightning growing strong as he neared Zabuza. Zabuza could not move the dogs held him tightly in place. Kakashi's arm pulled back then rammed his chakra at Zabuza. Blood splattered everywhere as Zabuza's eyes widened. They began to twitch slightly as blood went all over him and Kakashi.

"Wh-what happened!?" Tazuna exclaimed as a large amount of wind flew back at them. Kakashi's eyes widened as his chakra began to disappear and the ninja dogs poofed away. Blood dripped at a heavy rate, forming a crimson puddle on the ground. Kakashi's arm had not gone through Zabuza like intended, but through Haku. Haku had reappeared right in front of Zabuza, shielding him from Kakashi's attack. Everyone stared in horror, including Tazuna and Sakura. Haku slumped, his hand on Kakashi's arm.

"Za...bu...za..."

Zabuza stared at Kakashi.

"My future is death? You're wrong again Kakashi."

Naruto turned this way and that in confusion.

"W-where'd he go?"

"Hey, the mist is starting to clear..." Naruto realized. Naruto looked forward to see three dark figures. He began to run towards them. As he made out the scene in front of him, he halted. Blood dropped from Haku's body in a mass rate.

"W...what's going on here!?" Naruto asked astonished.

"That's the masked boy..." Tazuna noticed. "He jumped in...to protect Zabuza..."

Haku was looking at Kakashi, blood everywhere. Kakashi looked at the boy. "This boy...is already dead..."

"Good job Haku," Zabuza said quietly. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and Zabuza began to pick up his sword quickly.

_'He plans to cut through both of us!?'_ Kakashi thought.

"I sure picked up a useful thing," Zabuza said as he swung his sword at Kakashi. Kakashi jumped backward, bringing Haku with him.

"Unforgivable!" Naruto yelled, watching.

"Naruto! Stay there!" Kakashi yelled. Kakashi laid Haku down in front of him. Kneeling down by him, Kakashi closed Haku's eyes, giving Haku a peaceful look.

"Naruto... Naruto! You're alright!" Tazuna exclaimed. Naruto looked at him, then down.

"..."

"What about your other two friends?"

Naruto began to shake.

"Kakashi!" Kakashi looked from Tazuna to Zabuza. Zabuza charged at Kakashi, but Kakashi kicked Zabuza hard in the chest, sending him backwards.

"I'll go with you. Then you won't be breaking your sensei's orders..." Tazuna said quietly, looking at Naruto. Naruto took Tazuna's hand, and began to run to what use to be a dome of mirrors. Tazuna shook, turning his head away, "So this...is the way of the shinobi...it's too harsh!" Tazuna thought, his fists shaking at his side.

Naruto quivered, several feet away. Naruto clenched his chest.

Kakashi and Zabuza faced-off. Zabuza was losing badly; he had kunais sticking out of his arms and was breathing heavily. Zabuza let out a battle cry and ran at Kakashi. As he was about to swing his sword Kakashi punched him in the face with no effort. Zabuza flew back but skidded, stopping on his feet. Kakashi ran up to Zabuza and punch him hard, Zabuza skidded back again. Zabuza cursed and swung his sword at Kakashi. Kakashi jumped back and Zabuza swung his sword again. The blade crashed into the ground as Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza. Kakashi hand gripped around the back of Zabuza's neck.

"You cannot beat me as you are now." Kakashi spoke.

"Nani?"

"You have not yet realized what true strength is."

A laugh rang out. A short man in a black suite was standing on the bridge, a cane in hand.

"So, what is going on?" Kakashi swung two kunais around on his fingers. Stopping, he held them both in his hands and aimed at Zabuza.

"This is goodbye, devil!" Zabuza turned around slowly in shock. As Kakashi's hand went towards Zabuza, Zabuza swung his sword behind him at Kakashi. Kakashi quickly stabbed Zabuza in his right arm and jumped away before the blade of Zabuza's sword hit him. Zabuza's sword was flung away, skidding to the other side of the bridge. Naruto watched, eyes quivering.

"Now both your arms are useless. You can't even perform a hand seal..." Kakashi spoke as he stood up and Zabuza glared. The little man took a step forward, attracting Kakashi's attention. Naruto and Zabuza looked also.

"You're getting your ass kicked. How disappointing, Zabuza." Behind the man were hundreds of men, probably all ninjas in some way. The man seemed like their leader, standing in front all superiors and everything. They stared at the small group, menacingly.


	8. Battle over!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto!

Song of my day...Eien No Setsuna by On/Off. It's the opening for Fuma no Kojiro. It's an awesome JDrama with ninjas and sexy asians...with twins...and ninjas...WATCH IT!!!!!

* * *

Chapter: The battle is over!

Zabuza stared at Gato, his arms useless. Zabuza's eyes met Gato's in a hateful stare.

"Gato, why are you here? And what's with all the men?"

"I've come to announce, the plan has changed a bit..." Gato tapped his cane on the ground as he let out a wicked grin. "Zabuza, you're of no more use to me. I'm going to have to kill you here."

Zabuza's eyes widened slightly.

"Hiring normal ninjas is expensive, so I get missing-nins like you. The ninjas battle it out and hopefully kill each other, saving me money and effort. Devil of the Hidden Mist? That's a bunch of bull, if you ask me, you're just a cute little baby devil."

All the men behind Gato laughed. Naruto stared, wide-eyed.

"Wh-who are all these guys...?"

"Kakashi...I'm sorry..." Zabuza said quietly, his back to everyone but Gato and his group. "This fight is over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you."

"Yeah..." Kakashi agreed. Haku lay in the middle of the bridge, between Gatoh's group and Zabuza and teams seven. Gato walked up to Haku.

"Oh yes, I owe this one. Squeezing my arm until it broke..." With a mighty heave, Gato kicked Haku in the head hard. "Too bad, he's already dead."

Naruto was horrified. "Bastard!! What do you think you're doing!?" Angered, Naruto ran forward. Kakashi quickly stopped Naruto, pulling him back. Naruto stared at Zabuza.

"And what about you!? How can you not say anything!? Weren't you guys friends!?"

"Shut up kid..." Zabuza said quietly. "Haku is already dead."

"What!? Didn't you feel anything after all that!? Weren't you always together!?" Naruto shouted at Zabuza.

"As I was used by Gato, Haku was used by me. That's all it was."

Naruto took a step back but Zabuza still spoke.

"I've already told you, we shinobi are just tools. I wanted his abilities, not him. I have no regrets."

Naruto clenched his fists at his sides and glared at Zabuza's back. "You...do you really mean that?"

"Naruto, stop..." Kakashi said, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "We have no reason to fight him anymore and-"

"Shut up!" Naruto cut his sensei off, pushing away. "He is still my enemy!" Naruto stepped towards Zabuza. He looked at Haku. "He...he really loved you! He loved you so much he gave his life for you! And yet you feel nothing!?" Flashbacks came to Naruto. Haku's words on how much he wanted Zabuza's dream to come true. Even at the cost of his life. "He threw his life away for you! Without his own dream...to die as a tool...that's... That's just too sad!" tears were streaming down Naruto's face now, his head bowed and fists clenched at his sides.

"Kid..." Naruto looked up at Zabuza's voice. His voice was shaky, and the ground was spotted as tears hit it. Zabuza looked up at the sky as tears rolled down his face.

"You don't...need to say anymore..." Tears came from the silent Naruto as Zabuza continued to speak. "It pained Haku to have to fight you. He fought, not only for me, but for you guys also. I can understand he was too kind. In the end, I'm glad I got to meet you guys."

Gato stepped back in slight shock as Zabuza began to bite the bandages around his face off. When they hung from his neck, Zabuza glanced back at Naruto.

"Kid, lend me your kunai." Naruto closed his eyes. Bowing his head, he took out a kunai and effortlessly tossed it to Zabuza. Visions of Haku clouded Zabuza's mind as he caught the kunai in his mouth and took off, forward.

Gato got freaked and ran backwards. "Kill him! Kill him!" he shouted as he ran behind his large group of men. One of the men with a fairly big sword smirked.

"One badly injured ninja against these numbers. You think you can win?" But the man was shut up real quick when Zabuza darted in, slashing him. As he fell backwards, Zabuza kept forward, quickly slashing anyone in his way. His arms swung useless as he stabbed everyone with the single kunai held in his mouth. All men took out their weapons, trying to slash at Zabuza, but Zabuza was too quick. Zabuza ran at Gato, who was at the unfinished side of the bridge. Now a few spears stuck out of Zabuza's back, but he kept going. Gato stared in fear as he realized he was messing with the devil of the mist. But all too late and Zabuza ran up, stabbing Gato in the heart. Blood poured out of Gato's mouth and Gato's men stabbed Zabuza in the back again.

"If... if you want to go to the same place as your friend, then go alone!" Gato managed to say through the blood loss. The kunai dropped from Zabuza's mouth and he spoke.

"Unfortunately, I can't go to that same place as Haku..." Zabuza managed to stand straight and walked slowly to Gato.

"But you and I together, are going to hell. There we'll see who the real baby devil is!" With that, Zabuza managed to pick up the fallen kunai and slash at Gato until he fell off the bridge. Zabuza turned and stared at the large group of men who all dropped their weapons in fear. They all backed off, making a pathway for Zabuza as he walked. The kunai once more dropped from Zabuza's mouth as he began to walk. "Haku..." he said quietly, trying to reach the fallen comrade. And Zabuza saw image of Haku in his pink kimono. "This is goodbye...Haku. Thank you for everything...I am sorry..." Zabuza fell face first. Naruto closed his eyes and turned his head.

"Do not look away..."

Naruto opened his eyes and stared at his sensei.

"This is the end of a man who led a difficult life..." Kakashi spoke.

----------------------------------------------------

"Did I...die...?"Sky zoned in and out between blackness. Sasuke's vision became focused. He could see Tazuna was standing beside him.

"What happened?"

Tazuna gave a small smile as he wiped away a tear. "It's all over, kid."

Sasuke slowly sat himself up. "What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "And the masked kid?"

"Naruto is fine...and the masked kid is dead." Tazuna responded, turning his head on Haku's body some feet away. Sasuke looked as well and then back to Tazuna.

"Dead? Did Naruto..."

Tazuna shook his head. "No. I don't know the details. I know he jumped in to protect Zabuza..." Sasuke looked at Haku's body then suddenly his eyes widened.

"Ryoko!"

Tazuna gave him a confused look. "Ryoko?"

"Ryoko! Where is she! What hap-" Sasuke suddenly feel silent as his gaze found her. His mouth dropped slightly as he saw her cold, pale body a few feet away from him. Apparently, when the crystals broke some scratched her as well. She had more cuts than he remembered. "Wh...wha..." Sasuke struggled to his feet. Taking heavy steps, he moved towards her body. Shakily, Sasuke hand reached out and touched her face. He withdrew it and examined her body.

"Ryoko..." Sasuke whispered. His hand reached out again until a hand stopped him.

"Huh?" He looked at where the hand came from, his eyes widen.

"Just because… I'm sleeping…" Her hand fell back down. "Doesn't mean you can touch me any time you want...Uchiha." She smirks sitting up with ease.

Sasuke helped her to her feet. She took in the situation. All a Gato's men and the villagers from town were face to face.

"Someone want to fill me in?"

"Heroes are supposed to come late!" Inari shouted proudly and bravely. He spent too much time with Naruto.

"Anyone who gets any closer to this island will die facing the force of this island!" One of the villagers shouted. The other villagers raised their weapons in agreement.

"I'm going to help too! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, making as many clones as his chakra would let him.

"Well I did miss most of the fighting so I better redeem myself! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Ryoko doppelgangers appeared on the bridge too.

The other crowd, apparently the bad guys, stepped back in fear. Kakashi-sensei also made the hand signs. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Ryoko couldn't help but stare at sensei's several clones with wide eyes, "Whoa, I didn't know Kakashi-sensei knew this jutsu too! Bet his fans have trouble keeping up with this one." (That many Kakashi's is a dream come true.)

"Shall we begin?" Kakashi-sensei and his clones asked.

After that the bad guys saw that they were clearly out numbered and out matched: they immediately ran away, trying to escape on the boat where they had come by. It was priceless watching their high-pitched horrified screams.

"YATTA!" Inari cheered happily. Soon, all the villagers were doing the same. Tazuna stared at them with tears of joy on his eyes.

Kakashi-sensei walked to Zabuza, who was almost dead on the ground, and carried him to Haku's dead body. Snow started to fall while he did that. The crowd of villagers calmed down, watching the snow with shocked expressions. Several murmurs about how it could be snowing in that time of the year could be heard. But the team knew the truth.

Haku… Ryoko looked up to the sky with a sad smile. _'I hope you're happy with what you're seeing down here.'_

-0-

Haku and Zabuza were buried in the Wave Country, in a hill with a beautiful horizon. Two wooden crosses were placed on their graves. Both of them had a purple string of flowers on it. Zabuza's sword was nailed on the ground beside his grave.

Squad 7 went to visit them two days later, when the sun was setting down. That made the place seem more beautiful, but still sad. Beautiful sadness.

"I was wondering, Kakashi-sensei…" Ryoko stared at the graves. "Does a ninja really have to be the way they said a ninja should be?"

"Ninja are not supposed to seek their reason to exist." Kakashi-sensei answered. "It's important that they exist as a tool. That idea exists in Konoha, too."

"We're not tools…we may fight to survive and do things because we're told…but that doesn't mean that we're weapons…like the way Haku thought he was to Zabuza…I refuse to be like that." Ryoko told them.

"Does becoming a real ninja really mean that?" Naruto questioned. "I kind of… don't like that."

"I second that." Ryoko said, crossing my arms.

"Do you think so, too?" Sasuke asked Kakashi-sensei.

"Well, no." Sensei replied. "That's why ninja unconsciously suffer from that idea. Like Zabuza and that boy."

There was a short silence before Naruto's announcement.

"Yosh! I've decided! I'm going to follow my own way of a ninja! I'm going to run straight down the path where I'm not going to regret anything!"

Ryoko threw her arms in the air, "Me too! I'm going to live my way too! I'll do the training and the missions, but I'll act on them on my own beliefs!"

Kakashi-sensei smiled behind the mask.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thank you. This bridge would never have been completed without you."

Team seven was standing at the end of the bridge. Tazuna and the rest of the water country stood in front of them. Inari walked up to Naruto, tears threatening to fall.

"I guess this is goodbye..."

"Y-yeah…" Naruto replied, his voice shaky.

"You can cry…" Inari said weakly.

"I'm not gunna cry! You cry!"

"I don't cry! You cry!"

Both boys turned the opposite way, tears streaming down their faces. Everyone sweat dropped. "Idiots..."

"Well, we should be off." Kakashi-sensei announced.

"Bye!"

"Goodbye!"

"Have a safe trip!"

"Thank you!" People called out to team seven and waved as the group started on their way home, crossing the bridge.

"We still need a name for the bridge," Tsunami said, standing next to Tazuna.

"How about, the Great Naruto Bridge," Tazuna said with a smile.

"I tell ya, the first thing I'm gonna do when I get back is get something to eat, take a bath, and take a loooong nap." Ryoko smiled stretching her arms above her head.

"Figures..." Sasuke replied. "You're obviously getting lazy."

Ryoko glared, "Oh is that so?"

"Hn. Well, you were the first one to get knocked out in the fight." He reminded her. "And I did more work than you did."

"You hogged all the fighting to yourself!" She shouted defensively. Then she smirked, "But…you would've been the first to get knocked out if I hadn't saved your butt."

"That was Naruto's fault."

"Hey! Don't blame this on me!"

"You gotta point. If he hadn't pulled that stupid stunt of trapping himself in the mirror dome, we would've survived."

"Come on! You're not going to hold that against me are you?!"

They simply nodded. Kakashi-sensei chuckled at their bickering.

The people back in the water country sweat dropped.

"Are you sure of that name Tazuna?" someone asked. Tazuna smiled.

* * *

You know….I'm missing volume 4 of my Naruto Manga collection…and I swear on 257 of my other manga that I bought it. Cause that's when Gaara first appears…But it's missing! I'm not _exactly_ pinning the blame on 3 specific people *Cough*Naruto*Cough* who borrowed my Naruto manga…but seriously…I think one of them has it and they're just not admitting it. I cleaned and organized my room to find it!! Nothing! I know I bought it and I know somebody has it and I want it back! I'm not buying another one because then it'll get returned and then I'll have two copies and I'm happy with just one!! Kate and Kate! (Sasuke and _Naruto_!) But mostly Naruto/Kate…Can one please help me find it?!

"I'm on my knees typing this!"

Kakashi-sensei, "No you're not…"

"Huh?"

*points to me being on one knee*

*Gets on both knees* "I'm on my knees!!! I just want my fucking book back!"


	9. Sand Shinobi and Bushy Brow Attack!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto!

Song of my day...Ame ni Utaeba ~Pichi Pichi Chapu Chapu Ran﻿ Ran Blues by Miyavi. (If you don't know who that is...well i won't say...)

* * *

– Suna shinobi and Bushy Brow attack!

Naruto, Sasuke and Ryoko were on a small bridge waiting as usual for their sensei. After Kakashi-sensei showing up three hours later, he gave us the list of the missions.

First they had to pull out weeds from an old lady's garden. Naruto, obsessed about beating Sasuke, ended up pulling out all the herbs the lady was cultivating. He earned a super punch on the eye for that. Then they went to clean the river. This river ironically had a waterfall. Naruto tripped and almost fell from it, but Sasuke caught him in time.

Last, and surely least, they had to walk with dogs. Naruto picked the biggest one and couldn't control it. The dog walked to a trap field, causing Naruto to get blown up.

"This is what you get for being reckless." Ryoko sighed.

Sasuke smirked. "You're a guy that needs help all the time." He said, starting to walk away.

The blond lets go of Ryoko eyes turning white in anger. "SASUKE!" He was about to launch towards him, but Ryoko stopped him.

"He's not worth it."

Kakashi-sensei sighed. "The teamwork is out of order lately."

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted, raising a fist to Sasuke. "And you're the one who disrupts our teamwork, Sasuke! You always stick your nose into everything!"

"That's you, idiot." Sasuke said, still walking. "If you don't want to owe me anything…" He stopped walking and turned to Naruto. "Become stronger than me."

Naruto clenched his fists in anger.

"Be careful of what you wish for Uchiha. Naruto just might become stronger than you." Ryoko whistles.

Sasuke sent her a death glare and soon a staring contest began…

Kakashi-sensei stared at the sky for some time and decided it was time to put an end on that already. "Shall we call it quits for today? I have to submit the mission report now."

"Then I'm going home." Sasuke said, walking away.

Kakashi-sensei disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Ryoko was about to comment on it, but then she saw a rock approaching them. _'A square rock?'_ Then she saw the rock had two holes on the front and a pair of eyes coming out from them. "Is there anyone you know that would disguise themselves as a square rock and follow us?"

He wondered for a minute, "Um… That sounds like something Konahomaru would do… Why do you ask?"

She pointed at the square rock.

"A rock like that doesn't exist! It's so obvious!" He exclaimed pointing to the rock as well.

"I should have expected that from the man whom I have high hopes for and is also my rival." Someone inside the rock said.

The rock started to emit a yellow glow and suddenly exploded. Three clouds of smoke appeared: one pink, one yellow and the other blue. As the smoke started to clear they could see three kids around eight or nine years old coughing.

The right one was a brunette boy wearing glasses, a dark blue shirt and gray shorts. On the left there was a girl with orange hair tied into two high pigtails, wearing a pink T-shirt and light brown pants. In the middle there was another boy with spiky brown hair wearing a blue scarf, a yellow T-shirt and gray pants. Oh, and all of them wore goggles that looked a lot like the one Naruto used before the graduation.

"Hey, you used too much gunpowder!" The boy in the middle said after coughing a little more. As the smoke vanished they noticed we had been watching them the whole time and quickly got up to their feet.

"The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult and the kunoichi from the senior group, Moegi!" The girl announced, making a pose.

Was she for real?

"The one who loves dividing numbers, Udon!" The boy with glasses said, making another pose.

They couldn't be serious.

"The village's number one genius ninja…" The last boy yelled. "Konahomaru!"

"The three of us make the Konahomaru group!" They yelled in unison.

"Just as I thought, it was the three of you." Naruto said, not really caring. "Why do you have these goggles on?"

"We copied the old you!" Konahomaru said with a grin. Then he noticed Ryoko. "Hey, Boss? Who's she?"

"Boss?" Ryoko snickered.

Naruto ignored her reaction, "Ne, this is Ryoko."

"Hey, guys!" She greeted.

"Now what do you want?" Naruto asked.

"Well, Boss, do you have time right now?" Moegi asked, rather shyly.

"No, I'm going to train."

Konahomaru made a disappointed face. "You said that you would play Ninja with us!"

"Hehe… Really?" He asked, embarrassed.

"What's the point in a ninja playing Ninja?" Sakura grunted, obviously still pissed about what Sasuke said, walking towards them.

"Woah, Sakura. Long time no see." Ryoko greeted.

She stopped and stared oddly at Naruto. She couldn't take Sasuke's words out of her head. 'Am I really worse than him?' She thought, intensifying the stare. Naruto blushed, starting to feel nervous. Konahomaru and his friends watched the scene curiously.

"Hey, who is this?" He asked. Then it hit him. Konahomaru smirked, patting Naruto's back. "Boss, you're better than I thought."

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"She's your…" Konahomaru raised his pinky. "Girlfriend, right?"

Sakura's eyes turned white at this.

Naruto blushed even more. "You kids are pretty sharp!"

"NO WAY!" Sakura yelled, punching Naruto right on the face.

"Naruto!" Konahomaru exclaimed as the blond hit the fence. He turned to Sakura, whose eyes still hadn't turned back to normal. "What did you do?! You ugly girl! Ugly!"

Ryoko's jaw dropped as Sakura cracked her knuckles. Konahomaru started to sweat madly as Sakura walked towards him.

Ryoko quickly held her back. "Calm down, Sakura, calm down! They're just kids, don't know what they saying-!"

"This ugly wide-forehead girl…" Konahomaru started. "Is she really a girl?"

A huge anime vein appeared on Sakura's head. Sakura broke from Ryoko's grasp started running towards Konahomaru, dragging me along and ready to attack. The boy immediately ran in the opposite direction, fearing for his life. He probably would have ran the whole village if he hadn't bumped into someone. Sakura finally (and fortunately!) stopped trying to kill Konahomaru to see the newcomer. Actually, newcomers.

Konahomaru had bumped into an older boy dressed in a completely black body suit with the Suna headband tied on his forehead. His face was had a purple paint on and he carried a kind of bondage bundle with spiky brown hair on its back.

Beside him was a girl older than us but younger than him, blonde with four pigtails, wearing a white dress with a red sash around the waist. Her Suna headband was on her neck and she carried a kind of fan on her back.

Beside her was another girl around Ryoko and Naruto's age. Her shortish dark brown hair was tied in a low ponytail by a blood red ribbon. She wore sleeveless black turtle neck top and black capris. Around her waist was her Suna headband. And like the other two, she carried a sort of weapon on her back. A giant boomerang. (Okay, I know it's from Inuyasha, but I really couldn't think of anything. It's decent enough, right?)

Ryoko raised an eyebrow. _'Foreign shinobi in Konoha? Are they on a mission or something?'_

"That hurt." The boy said emotionlessly. He grabbed Konahomaru's scarf and lifted him of the ground.

"Konahomaru!" Naruto shouted worriedly.

"That hurt, brat." The boy repeated.

"Stop it." The blond haired girl hissed. "We're going to get scolded later."

"I'm sorry, I was just joking around, so-" Sakura tried to apologize, afraid of what those people might do.

"Hey, we don't have to apologize." Ryoko said calmly. "If he didn't see Konahomaru running to him in time to avoid, it's his own problem."

The boy sent me a glare.

"I see we have a smart-mouthed one here, uh?"

Ryoko returned the glare. "You have no idea."

"HEY! LET GO OF HIM!" Naruto yelled, shaking his fists.

"But I want to play around before some noisy people come." The boy said, ignoring Konahomaru's struggles to get away.

"Hey! If you don't let go of him you're gonna get it from me, you idiot!"

Sakura immediately bopped Naruto's head.

"You're the idiot, don't provoke him!" She hissed.

The boy smirked. "You piss me off. You're too impertinent for someone younger than me. It makes me want to break you."

"Interesting." Ryoko whispers, appearing behind the boy. "That's exactly what I want to do with you now."

The boy's widened. He looked to where he thought Ryoko was. A Shadow-clone. She quickly delivered a lower kick to the back causing him to fall on the ground and to release Konahomaru. Konahomaru ran back to the safety of his friends. Ryoko followed after to keep them safe just incase.

"Way to go, Ryoko!" Naruto cheered, as well as Moegi and Udon. Sakura sighed in relief.

The blonde girl couldn't help but laugh at the fallen boy. He gritted his teeth, glaring at Ryoko.

"Why, you brat…"

He stood up, aiming a punch at me. Ryoko was (kind of...) ready to deflect it when something stopped the boy. He grabbed his hand in pain. Ryoko glanced at the ground. There was a small rock there, which was used to hit him. She was kind of relieved that the rock stopped him. It was until she saw who threw the rock…

Sasuke was sitting on the branch of the tree, his back leaning against the trunk and his right hand holding another rock.

"What do you think you're doing in another's village?" He asked coolly.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura squealed.

Naruto scoffed and Ryoko rolled her eyes. All the attention was on him now.

"Another kid that pisses me off…" The boy in black muttered.

"Get lost." Sasuke said, crushing the rock in his hand.

Sakura and Moegi squealed again, staring at Sasuke with hearts on the eyes. Udon also seemed amazed. Ryoko held an annoyed look while Naruto fidgeted.

"Naruto, you're not cool!" Konahomaru said in an accusing tone, crying anime tears. Naruto blushed and tried to fix the situation. "I would have beaten that guy!"

"Liar!"

"Hey, come down, kid." The Suna boy said.

Sasuke simply glared at the boy, not bothering to move.

"I hate kids like you, who think they're so clever." With that he took the bundle thing out of his back.

The blonde girl's eyes widened. "Hey! You're going to use Karasu?"

"Kankuro, stop." Another voice ordered.

Hanging upside down in the same tree as Sasuke, there was a red-haired boy about their age. He had pale skin, sea foam eyes, no eyebrows and a red kanji for love on the right side of his forehead. There were also black rings around his eyes, probably caused by lack of sleep. There was a gourd on his back and on its handle there was a Suna headband.

"You're a disgrace to our village."

"G-Gaara…" The boy in black, apparently named Kankuro, said nervously.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Gaara. 'When did this guy appear next to me?'

"Why do you think we came all the way here to Konoha?" Gaara continued emotionlessly.

"Listen, Gaara… These guys started it!"

"Say what?!" Ryoko shouted angrily.

"Shut up." Gaara told Kankuro. "Or I'll kill you."

Naruto, Sakura, Ryoko and Konahomaru's group flinched at this.

"I was at fault." Kankuro said, raising his hands defensively. "I'm really, really sorry." Gaara turned to look at us. "Excuse them, you guys." He stared directly at Ryoko, then at Sasuke. 'He hit Kankuro's hand with a rock so easily. And she was able to attack him with an easy jutsu as distraction. They're good.'

Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared between Kankuro and the blonde girl. "Kankuro, Temari, Akki, let's go. We didn't come here to fool around."

The Suna-nins turned to leave, but Sakura interrupted them.

"Wait!" She said.

"What is it?" Temari asked impatiently.

"Judging from your headbands, you're ninjas from Sunagakure, right?"

"Leave them alone, Sakura." Ryoko hissed.

"The Fire Country and the Wind Country have an alliance, but a treaty prevents ninjas from entering each other's countries without permission. State your purpose." Sakura demanded.

The girl sighed. "You don't know anything?" She took out a passport. "This is my traffic pass. As you guessed, we're Genin from Sunagakure from the Wind Country. We came to this village to take the Chunin Exams."

"Chunin Exams?" Naruto wondered out loud. "What's that?"

"It's the test that defines if you'll pass from Genin to Chunin or not." Ryoko answered, remembering when Iruka-sensei had first talked it.

"Really? Then I should take it, too!"

"We only can do it if Kakashi-sensei recommends us."

"He will for sure! After all, I'm the best ninja of the village, I have to participate!"

The Suna ninjas were about to leave again when Sasuke came down from the tree.

"Hey, you there. What's your name?"

Temari turned back with a smile. "Me?"

"No, the one next to you with the gourd." Sasuke said.

Kankuro and Gaara stopped walking and turned back.

"My name is Gaara of the Desert." Gaara introduced. "I'm curious about you too…Who are you?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Gaara looked at Ryoko. "And you?"

Ryoko blinked in surprise. "Uh? I'm Ryoko Koneko."

He stared emotionlessly at them and vis versa. The short silence was broken, of course, by Naruto.

"Hey, what about me? I bet you're dying to know my name!"

"I couldn't care less." Gaara replied coldly yet bluntly.

The Suna ninjas turned around and jumped out of sight. Naruto cried anime tears.

"Do I look that weak, Ryoko?"

"Uh? Ne, of course not!" Ryoko said, patting his back. "Don't worry about him, he's not important!" 'He's someone to keep an eye on.'

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! Believe it!"

* * *

The next day team 7 was waiting on the same bridge for Kakashi-sensei to show up. "Why did we even bother to get there on time if we knew it would take him five hours to come?" Ryoko asked Sasuke and Naruto. "I bet that's what he wanted us to do. Kakashi-sensei's just evil like that."

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto immediately agreed. "I woke up late so I couldn't brush my teeth or change my underwear!" Naruto declared.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Ryoko sent the blond a WTF stare.

"Naruto…that's kinda gross."

They heard a poof sound that announced that their sensei had arrived.

"Hey, Good morning, everyone. Sorry I'm late. Afraid I got lost on the path of life…"

"YOU LIAR!" Naruto and Ryoko yelled, pointing accusing fingers at him.

"I'll get to the point. I recommended all of you to the Chunin Exams."

Their eyes widened.

"Are you serious?!" Ryoko asked in disbelief.

"Yup."

"YATTA! I LOVE YOU, KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto cheered, hugging Kakashi-sensei.

"Hey, get off, get off!" He said, pushing Naruto off. "You're drooling on my vest!"

"These are the applications." Kakashi-sensei said, handing them three papers. "However, this recommendation does not force you to take it. You can decide if you will or not."

"Of course we will!" Naruto spoke for the others.

"Very well, then. You just have to sign the applications and five days after that get to school by 3 PM and go to room 301. That's all."

* * *

Bushy Brows Attack!

The five days passed really quickly. Sasuke, Ryoko, and Naruto entered the Academy and walked upstairs. There was a large crowd in front of the second floor's door. The door's number was 301.

Two older guys with Konoha's headband were guarding the door and punched some guy in a weird green jumpsuit, causing him to fall on his butt.

"You're trying to take the Chunin Exam with that kind of level?" One of them asked in a mocking tone.

"Maybe you should quit, kids." The other taunted.

"Please, let us through." A brunette girl, apparently on the same team as the guy in the green jumpsuit, pleaded. She stood up and walked to the door, just to get punched by one of the guys.

"How cruel!" Someone in the crowd said.

"What did you say?" One of the guys asked. "Listen up we're being kind to you. The Chunin Exam is extremely difficult."

"We have seen those who gave up on becoming a ninja or become seriously injured taking this exam." The other one said. "A Chunin is a commander of a squad. It's the commander's responsibility for failing any missions and the death of their subordinates."

"What's wrong with sitting out those who aren't going to pass anyway?"

"That's a sound argument, but I'll pass." Sasuke said as they stepped closer. "And undo this field you've created using a Genjutsu. I want to go to the third floor."

"What's this guy talking about?" Someone murmured.

"I don't know."

"So you noticed?" One of the guys guarding the door asked.

"Ryoko, how about you?" Sasuke asked. "You must've noticed first."

Ryoko nodded, "It's actually kind of obvious we're all on the second floor. All the other room numbers are marked in the two hundreds for the second floor. Duh."

With that the Genjutsu was dispelled and the door's number came back to 201. One of the guys at the door smirked.

"You're pretty good. But just being able to detect it isn't enough…"

Suddenly the guy spun around, aiming a kick to Sasuke. The Uchiha prepared himself to kick back just in time. However, before the two kicks collided, something stopped them. Actually, someone.

The same boy in the green jumpsuit from before stood between Sasuke and the guy, holding both of their legs. Everyone's eyes widened. He was really fast. He had bandages covering his arms, black hair in a bowl cut and the biggest eyebrows anyone has ever seen.

_'Why was he letting those guys hit him? With that speed he could have avoided easily.' _Ryoko observed.

The boy released Sasuke's and the other guy's legs and lowered his eyes. Two people walked towards them. One was the girl from before. The other was a boy with dark brown hair lied in a low ponytail wearing a cream-colored jacket, black shorts and Konoha's headband on his forehead. His eyes were pupil-less lavender.

"Hey, you broke the promise. You're the one who didn't want to gather attention by doing something that stands out."

"But…" The boy in green started, turning to Ryoko with a blush.

The brunette girl shook her head, annoyed. "She must be why…"

The boy stepped towards Ryoko. "My name is Rock Lee. You're Ryoko, right?" He blushed and raised a thumb up. "Let's go out together! I will protect you until I die!" He grinned and his teeth produced a small shine.

Ryoko's body stiffened at his blunt declaration. She wasn't sure how to handle it so she replied as honestly as she could.

"Sorry. No." She managed to say.

Rock Lee's face deflated. "Why?"

"I'm not really looking for a relationship." *Cough*Liar*Cough*

Lee lowered his head in shame.

"Hey, you there." Neji called, making Sasuke turn to face him. "Identify yourself."

"You're supposed to identify yourself before you ask." Sasuke replied coolly.

"You're a rookie, aren't you? How old are you?"

"I have no obligation to answer that."

"Nani?" Irritation was visible in Neji's voice.

"No one wants to know my name…" Naruto cried.

Ryoko pats Naruto on the back, "Don't worry about it. Let's go guys."

* * *

"You there with sharp eyes, wait!"

Team 7 looked back to see the guy from before, Rock Lee.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, slightly annoyed.

"Will you fight me here, right now?"

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed. "Fight you right here, right now?"

"Yes. My name is Rock Lee. You're supposed to identify yourself before asking for someone else's name, right…? Uchiha Sasuke."

"So you know my name."

Lee assumed a fighting stance. "I would like to fight you. I would like to see how my moves will do against a descendant of the genius ninja clan. Also…" He turned to look at Ryoko, who stiffened. Lee blushed. "Oh, Ryoko…I love you!"

Ryoko looked away awkwardly, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same about you!"

"You're an angel!" He opened his hand and a pink heart appeared there. He blew the heart towards Ryoko.

Ryoko grabbed Naruto and held him in front of her so he could receive the heart kiss. Much to Naruto's dislike.

"Very nice. How about this?" This time a lot of hearts were blown at her.

Ryoko continued to use Naruto as a shield. The last heart struck Naruto in the forehead.

"Stop throwing weird things at me! Just what kind of crazy jutsu is that?!"

Lee's face fell. "You do not have to be so negative…"

Naruto's eyes turned white in anger and he clenched his fists. "It's all about Sasuke again, damn it!" He growled, angrier than ever.

"So you're challenging me knowing my name is Uchiha?" Sasuke questioned. "I'm sorry to say this, but you're ignorant. Do you want to see what this name Uchiha is capable of, fuzzy eyebrows?"

Rock Lee smirked. "Please."

"Wait!" Naruto said defiantly. "I'll fight the fuzzy eyebrows guy."

"Go for it." Sasuke said, not bothered that Naruto wanted to cut in.

"I really don't think you should underestimate this guy." Ryoko said, recalling his speed.

"Don't worry; it'll only take five minutes." Naruto stated with over confidence.

"I don't want to fight you." Lee said. "I want to fight the Uchiha."

"Geez, everyone is annoying me with this 'Sasuke, Sasuke' thing!" Naruto complained, launching towards Lee. He stood completely still, waiting for the attack. Naruto aimed a punch to Bushy Brows, but it didn't work. Lee simply pressed his hand down, causing Naruto to miss his target. The blond put his hands on the floor and spun around, trying a kick. Lee dodged it with ease.

"Leaf whirlwind!" With that he tripped Naruto, causing him to spin on his butt before hitting the wall and getting knocked out.

Ryoko winced, "Ouch. That must've hurt."

"I will declare this now. You cannot defeat me." Lee stated. "Because I'm the strongest Genin of Konoha right now."

Sasuke smirked. "Interesting. I'll accept it. Besides…" Sasuke said arrogantly. "It'll only take five minutes." Sasuke ran towards Lee head on aiming a punch to him just like Naruto. Before the Uchiha could hit him, Lee disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke.

"Leaf whirlwind!"

Sasuke lowered his head, avoiding the kick. Lee tried a lower one this time, hitting the Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke fell painfully on the floor and it took him some time to get up again. Surprisingly, he smirked. "I'll show you." He blinked his onyx eyes and when reopened them they were red with black commas. Sasuke dashed towards Lee again. Ryoko blinked once and the next thing that she saw was Lee kicking Sasuke in the jaw, sending him flying upwards. Her jaw dropped. _'He's really fast!'_

"Yes, my moves are neither Ninjutsu nor Genjutsu." The boy admitted.

Sasuke landed and Lee ran to him, applying several kicks and punches. Sasuke could barely dodge them. Lee elbowed the Sasuke's stomach, causing him to wince in pain.

"My moves are just Taijutsu." Lee said, disappearing and reappearing behind Sasuke again. "Sasuke. You may not be able to believe it right away, but-" Sasuke tried to punch him but Lee avoided it by jumping backwards. "-I heard that the Sharingan has the ability to see through Gen, Tai and Ninjutsu. You can definitely see through and deal with Genjutsu that require forming seals and kneading chakra… But for Taijutsu, it's a little different."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked with his voice a little shaky.

"Even if you can see my movement with your Sharingan, your body does not have the speed to keep up with mine. In other words, there's no point even if you can see with your own eyes, if you can't keep up with my body. Do you know there are genius-types and hardworking-types among the strong? If your Sharingan is a genius-type that carries the blood of Uchiha…" Tired of listening to him, Sasuke launched towards Lee. "I am a hardworking-type that continuously improved my Taijutsu." Lee dodged one of Sasuke's punches. "Your Sharingan and my ultimate Taijutsu skills are a bad combination." With that he kicked Sasuke's jaw again.

While the Uchiha was in the middle of the air, Lee vanished and appeared under him.

"And I will prove to you with this move-" Lee continued. "-That hard work surpasses geniuses." He took a large part of his bandages out. "I win! Dancing Leaf Shadow!"

Before Lee could strike, a small windmill appeared out of nowhere and pinned Lee's loose bandage to the wall.

"Stop right there, Lee!" An old voice demanded.

Ryoko, Lee, and Sasuke turned around to see a giant turtle with a Leaf village head band around its neck. Lee stopped the attack and landed on the floor. Just one problem: Sasuke continued to fall. He was going to fall head on the ground and at the angle he was falling, he could possible snap his neck.

"Damn!" Ryoko cursed, running towards Sasuke. She arrived just in time to catch Sasuke and prevented him from getting hurt. "You can thank me later for saving your butt. Again."

He mumbled something inaudibly under his breath.

"You were watching?" Lee asked the turtle.

"Lee, that move is forbidden!" It scolded.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away…" He panicked. "But I wasn't going to use the Reverse version! Really, I'm telling the truth!"

Sasuke and Ryoko watched the bizarre scene. Naruto, who had already regained consciousness joined them.

"Hey, hey!" He pointed to the talking turtle. "That's a turtle, right? Right?"

"Yeah that's a turtle." Ryoko replied, shifting Sasuke into a sitting position.

"So, a turtle can become a sensei too?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know!" Ryoko complained. "So far everything has been weird so maybe it's possible!"

"You fool!" The turtle scolded again. "Did you think that excuse would work? You should know very well what it means for a ninja to expose his move. Are you prepared to face the consequences?"

Lee nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Gai-sensei, please take care of the rest."

A cloud of smoke appeared on the turtle's hull, revealing a grown-up version of Lee. The only differences were that he wore a Jounin vest and… his eyebrows were bigger.

"You guys are in the spring time of your life, aren't you?!" He shouted.

All the color drained from Team 7's faces.

"AN EVEN WEIRDER GUY CAME OUT!" Naruto and Ryoko yelled, hugging each other for comfort.

"Hey, Lee." Lee's grown-up version said with a grin. His teeth shone the same way Lee's did before. As if one wasn't bad enough…

"Those eyebrows…" Naruto said with a whimper. "This is the first time I've seen such a thing…" An anime vein popped out of Lee's head.

"Hey! DON'T MAKE FUN OF GAI-SENSEI!" He yelled completely mad.

"OH SHUT UP! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF ALL THE FREAKS WHO KEEP POPPING IN HERE!!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY-?!"

"Cut it out, Lee." Gai said. Lee nodded and turned to him. Gai's calm expression turned into an angry one. "You-" He raised his fist and punched Lee's face so hard that blood drops spewed from his mouth. "-IDIOT!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Ryoko were shocked.

Gai walked to Lee and kneeled beside him.

"Lee, you… you…"

"S-Sensei!" Lee stammered.

They were crying now in a sunset background.

"S-Sensei…" Lee started. "I-"

"It's okay, Lee, don't say any more."

"Sensei!" Lee cried, throwing his arms around Gai's neck.

"Lee!"

They were completely freaked out by now.

_'I can't believe Uchiha lost to that guy…'_ Ryoko thought.

_'I can't believe I lost to that guy…'_ Sasuke thought.

"Yes, this is youth!" Gai said, holding Lee tight.

"Hey, that kind of situation isn't so bad." Naruto said. "I kind of gives you that warm fuzzy feeling."

Naruto and Ryoko glared at him.

"It's okay, Lee." Gai said, putting a hand on Lee's shoulders. "It's okay to make mistakes when you're young."

"You're too kind, sensei." Lee said, still crying.

"Now, run 100 laps at the training ground in the sunset!" Gai cried, pointing forward. "Just don't mess up your hair."

"Hai, sensei!"

"Let's go!"

"Hai!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Naruto yelled, spoiling their weird moment. "We were still talking!"

"What are you going to do about the Chunin Exam?" Ryoko asked. "There's only ten minutes left." She informed glancing at the clock.

"What? Oh, yeah!" Gai said, rubbing the back of his head. "Lee, I'm going to punish you for fighting and breaking a promise after the exam, okay?"

"Hai!" Lee said making continence.

"Do 500 laps!"

"Roger!"

"They're insane." Ryoko decided.

"What's with the turtle?" Naruto questioned.

"Give it up with the turtle!"

Then we noticed Gai was staring intensely at Team 7.

"You three, is Kakashi doing well?" Gai asked.

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"I don't just know him… People call us eternal rivals."

"That sounds so fake!" Naruto yelled with white wide eyes.

Lee raised his fist with another anime vein. "How rude! Gai-sensei is really-"

"It's okay." Gai cut off. "Don't say it out loud; show it in your attitude." Suddenly Gai disappeared and reappeared behind them, just like Lee did in the fight. "The record stands at 50 wins and 49 losses. Let me just tell you that I'm stronger than Kakashi."

"How's that?" Lee asked eagerly. "Gai-sensei is amazing, isn't he?"

"Lee caused you trouble, but please forgive him for the sake of my face. This refreshing face, that is."

"I'm gonna puke…" Ryoko mumbled.

"Lee and the three of you should get to the classroom soon. Do your best, Lee! Farewell!" After that he gladly vanished in a cloud of smoke. And so did the turtle.

"Sasuke." Lee called. "Let me say this before I go. To be honest, I came here to test my skills. I lied a while ago. The strongest Genin of Konoha is on my team. I entered this exam to defeat him. And you're one of my targets, as well." Sasuke glared at Lee. "Prepare yourself for the exam!" Lee quickly jumped upstairs, them alone.

Sasuke clenched his fists in frustration. Naruto crossed his arms behind his head.

"Looks like the Uchiha clan isn't that great at all."

"Shut up." Sasuke said, annoyed. "Next time I'll slaughter him."

"That's the spirit!" Ryoko slapped him on the back.

Sasuke smirked. "This is getting interesting… The Chunin Exam, that is."

"Yup." Ryoko nodded.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke lifted his head triumphantly.

"Let's go. Ryoko. Naruto."

Together and fearless, they walked to room 301.

* * *

So the Chunin exam arc is starting. And I want to throw out there that the new girl with the Sand siblings is...*Drum roll* ....ME!!!!! *Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ha!

Sigh. Nothing is going on lately, besides the fact that Naruto shippuden is airing with DisneyXD. Seriously, didn't anyone learn from Disney merging with Final Fantasy? Kingdom hearts happened. We're going to have Fucking cartoon crossovers in Naruto! Fucking Shukaku is going to be whinny the pooh!!


	10. Chunin exams! Part1! Written Test!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto!

Song of my day...Byakuya- True light by Shunichi Miyamoto

* * *

The Rookie 9 together again

Kakashi-sensei was waiting for his team in front of room 301. He held a serious look on his face. "So, all three of you showed up together."

"You were expecting us not to show up? Where's the faith, Sensei?" Ryoko joked.

"You can now officially register for the Chunin Exam." Sensei said. "To tell you the truth, the Exam can only be taken in complete teams."

"But you said we could decide if we wanted to take it or not!" Naruto argued.

"Yeah, I did."

"You lied?" Ryoko asked, _'That's not a big surprise, he lies to us everyday about the reason why he's always late...' _

"Yes." Sensei nodded. "If I said that, the three of you probably would've pressured each other to take the exams."

"Okay, so what would've happened if one of us didn't come?" Ryoko asked.

"I would have prohibited the other two from taking the exam and not allowed them through these doors. But you three came here on your free will. Naruto. Sasuke. Ryoko." Kakashi-sensei smiled. "Well done. I'm proud of the three of you. You're my team." He stepped out of the door. "Now go."

"All right, let's go!" Naruto shouted.

With that, Ryoko and Sasuke opened the doors.

A blinding white light seemed to come from the room as they entered.

The Rookie 9 together again

Kakashi-sensei was waiting for his team in front of room 301. He held a serious look on his face. "So, all three of you showed up together."

"You were expecting us not to show up? Where's the faith, Sensei?" Ryoko joked.

"You can now officially register for the Chunin Exam." Sensei said. "To tell you the truth, the Exam can only be taken in complete teams."

"But you said we could decide if we wanted to take it or not!" Naruto argued.

"Yeah, I did."

"You lied?" Ryoko asked, 'That's not a big surprise, he lies to us everyday about the reason he's late...'

The blond snickered.

"Yes." Sensei nodded. "If I said that, the three of you probably would've pressured each other to take the exams."

"Okay, so what would've happened if one of us didn't come?" Ryoko asked.

"I would have prohibited the other two from taking the exam and not allowed them through these doors. But you three came here on your free will. Naruto. Sasuke. Ryoko." Kakashi-sensei smiled. "Well done. I'm proud of the three of you. You're my team." He stepped out of the door. "Now go."

"All right, let's go!" Naruto shouted.

With that, Ryoko and Sasuke opened the doors.

A blinding white light seemed to come from the room as they entered.

Soon their eyes adjusted to the clarity and they could see the room pretty well. It was filled with shinobi from all the ninja villages and most of them were not happy looking.

"There're so many people." Ryoko whispered in awe. _'All of them were older than us and looked strong, how were we supposed to defeat all of them?'_

"Sasuke-kun, you're late!"

Ryoko stiffened at the voices. It was almost as annoying as Sakura's.

(Actually Sakura's dead sorry Sakura fans.)

Ino jumped on Sasuke's back and threw her arms around his neck with a joyful smile. Sasuke sent her the worst glare he could, but the girl didn't move.

"I've been eagerly waiting for you ever since I heard that I could see you for the first time in a long time!" She squealed.

"You mean a month?" Ryoko snorted.

"Oh my, it's you, Ryoko. Your forehead still ugly… as usual."

"And you're still a blond bimbo."

Ino happily stuck her tongue out at Sakura.

"Are you three going to take this troublesome exam, too?" A lazy familiar voice asked.

Ryoko's face lifted up. "Hey, Shikamaru! Hi Choji!" She gave them a small wave.

"Hi Ryoko." Shikamaru said with a yawn.

"Hey, look who's here!" Another familiar voice said, increasing Naruto's annoyance and Ryoko happiness. Team 8 walked towards them.

"Hi Hinata!" Ryoko smiled, pulling her into a hug.

"H-Hi Ryoko…" She stuttered. (I can tell I'm going to get annoyed writing her stuttering and hesitating.)

Kiba made a hurtful face.

"What about me? Don't I deserve a hug?"

Ryoko smiled still. "No, you don't. Only Akamaru." Kiba's jaw dropped while Akamaru barked happily on Kiba's head. "Ne, just kidding!" She gave him a quick hug and waved at the third member of the group. "Hey, Shino."

"Hi." He said emotionlessly. Ryoko sweat dropped. Shino was indeed a strange guy.

"Would you guys keep it down?" A young male dressed in purple with white hair and glasses. "This isn't a school field trip, you know. Take a look around."

The rookies looked at the group of shinobi and flinched when they saw the hated glares of all the shinobi in the room.

"Watch out for the group behind you." He advised. "They're Amagakure – those who are hidden in the rain – and they've got very short fuses. Everyone's on edge, waiting to take the exam. I wanted to give you a heads up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you."

Naruto and the other rookies gulp.

"Kabuto, right?" Ryoko asked.

Kabuto nodded.

"Since you seem knowledgeable about the exams, I assume that this is your second time taking them."

Kabuto chuckled meekly, "Not second…seventh. Twice a year for…hm, going on four years now." He digs into his shinobi pouch and pulled out a stack of orange cards, "Since you're all beginners…I'll give you some vital information on what you're in for with these _Shinobi skill cards_."

"Are there any cards there that have detailed personal information?" Sasuke asked. Kabuto smirked. "Yes. Is there someone that interests you?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Yeah."

"The information of this Exam's examinees is not perfect, but I've burned and saved them. They include information about the nine of you, as well. Tell me whatever you know about the person that interests you." He lifted a card. "I'll look for you."

"Gaara of the Desert. Rock Lee." Sasuke told him.

"Oh, you know their names." Kabuto said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Then it won't take much time."

Kabuto took out three cards and put chakra into the first of them. Rock Lee's picture appeared on it, along with some graphics and smaller pictures of his team members.

"He's one year older than you." Kabuto started. "Mission experience: 20 D-rank and 11 C-rank. The squad leader is Might Guy. His Taijutsu skills have increased dramatically this past year, but his other skills are terrible. He got everyone's attention last year as a skilled rookie Genin, but he didn't take the Chunin Exam. This is his first time taking it, like you. His team is composed of Tenten and Hyuuga Neji."

Hinata's body tensioned at the mention of her cousin, but no one seemed to notice.

"Hyuuga?" Naruto wondered out loud, recognizing that name from somewhere…

"Next, Gaara of the Desert." Kabuto put chakra into the next card. "Mission experience: 8 C-rank and…wow, he did a B-rank mission as a Genin. Not many Genin get B-ranked missions. He's a foreign ninja and it's his first time taking the exam, so I don't have any information on him. But it seems that he has returned from all of his missions unharmed."

"He did a B-rank mission as a Genin and was unharmed?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief.

"This year, many talented Genins have come here to take this exam." Kabuto explained. "Otogakure (Village Hidden in the Sound) is a village of a small country that was just made recently, so I don't have much information on them. Either way, they're all from powerful villages."

Naruto lowered his head. For the first time, he understood that it wouldn't be easy getting through the Chunin Exam. There were many enemies, some much more powerful than him. Naruto closed his fists, but said nothing.

The blond immediately lifted his head with a triumphant yell. He placed one hand on his hip and pointed forward with the other. All the stares turned to him.

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO AND I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE TO ANY OF YOU! BE~LIEVE IT!!"

The room fell in a mortal silence, every single Genin glaring at Naruto.

Ryoko gritted her teeth and glared at Naruto, "You just don't care about what you yell, do you?"

One of the Oto-nins, a spiky black haired boy, threw kunai, aiming to Kabuto. Kabuto jumped backwards, avoiding them. Another Oto-nin, his face severally bandaged, appeared in front of Kabuto. He tried to punch him, but missed it.

Kabuto smirked triumphantly. Suddenly, his glasses broke. This didn't seem to faze him as he took them off. "I see. So that's the kind of attack it was."

"What's going on?" Sasuke inquired, wide eyed. "You definitely dodged it. Why did your glass-?"

"It must have hit his nose." Shikamaru said in a tone of who could care less. "That's what happens for trying to look cool."

Kabuto's eyes suddenly widened. His vision started to get blurry and he fell to his knees, barfing.

The rookies gasped.

"Nani?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Kabuto!"

Ryoko and Naruto ran to Kabuto's side, trying to help him. The three sound ninjas smirked victoriously in front of them.

"Hey, you okay?" Ryoko asked Kabuto.

He stared oddly for a minute before nodding.

"You're not as good as I thought for a veteran who took the exams four years running." Bandage face said.

"Write in this card…" The Sound nin with spiky hair, said. "The three from Otogakure will definitely become Chunin."

Naruto and Ryoko glared at him. "We'll see about that!" She dared, once again talking without thinking.

The bandaged guy lifted his fist, as if ready to punch her, when a cloud of smoke appeared in the middle of the room. All shinobi all turned to stare as a harsh voice came out of it.

"Quiet down, you punks!"

The smoke cleared, revealing the proctors of the Exam, all dressed in a gray uniform. A guy with two big scars, a mean look on his face and the only one who wasn't wearing the uniform, seemed to have spoken.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." He said in a strong tone. "I'm the examiner of the first test of the Chunin Exam, Morino Ibiki."

Ibiki's eyes scanned the room looking for the reason of fuss of five seconds ago. It didn't take long for him to find it. "You three from Otogakure, don't think you can do anything you want before the Exam!" He warned, raising a finger at them. "Do you want us to fail you already?"

"I'm sorry." The bandaged guy faked an apology. "I was excited, since this is my first Exam."

Ibiki smirked. "This is a good chance to say this… You are not allowed to fight each other during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if the permission is given, you're not allowed to kill each other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately, understood?"

Everyone nodded in silence, intimidated by the proctor.

The Oto boy with spiky hair chuckled. "This Exam seems so soft and easy."

The proctors smirked. Ibiki continued.

"We will now begin the first part of the Chunin Exam. Turn in your applications, take one of these number tags and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the written test."

Naruto's eyes turned white wide at the last words. "Hunh?"

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Ryoko asked him.

"A WRITTEN TEST?!"

* * *

Naruto was sitting beside Hinata. Sasuke was one behind Ryoko. All the other teams seemed to have been torn apart as well. The proctors, except for Ibiki, who stood in the front of the classroom, were sitting on chairs next to the windows with a clipboard each one.

"The first test has a few important rules. I will not accept questions, so listen carefully." Ibiki started. "First rule is you all are given 10 points at the start. The written test consists of 10 questions and each one worth one point. This test is a deduction based one. If you get one problem wrong, you will get one point deducted. Second rule. The pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's total points. There is a reason for this. Just shut up and listen. Now that you know, let's move on to the next rule. If an examiner determines that you cheated or did something similar during the test, each action will cause you to lose two points." A few people gasped at this. "In other words, if you're caught five times you get a zero. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves. You are all trying to become Chunin. If you're a ninja, act like a first rate one. Also, if anyone in the team gets a zero, _everyone in that team will fail_."

"Nani?!" Sasuke gasped.

"What did you say?!" Ryoko yelled.

All the color was drained of Naruto's. He lowered his head when he felt the murderous glares of Ryoko and Sasuke. _'I can feel them from here…both wanting to kill me already!'_

"The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the test begins. You have an hour for the test. Begin!"

Ryoko sighed, trying to calm herself down. _'Okay, let's get started.'_ She turned over her paper and read the first question.

First question: The line B represents a shuriken's maximum throwing distance of the enemy ninja, A, from a height of 7 meters. Figure out the trait of the enemy ninja that can be observed from the ellipse formed by the shuriken, and figure out the maximum throwing distance on a flat ground. Explain your reasoning.

_' WHAT THE HELL?! That's just impossible! _She gritted her teeth in frustration. _'I didn't even get to the other questions and this already seems impossible!'_ Then she sighed, _'Ah, when in doubt gotta cheat.'_ Then it hit her.

Sasuke concentrated on the 10th question, _'What's the deal with number 10? Question number ten will not be provided until forty-five minutes into the exam. At that time, please answer the proctor's questions to the best of your ability.'_ He looked at the proctor's to his left, _'They're watching us. Like cats watch mice. Like they expect us to cheat. Those rats!_

_'They are forcing us to cheat! A ninja must know how to gather information without being noticed, that's what they want us to do! YES! Now that I figured out the test's purpose, there was just one more little thing I had to figure out: HOW THE HECK AM I GOING TO CHEAT WITHOUT BEING CAUGHT BY ANY OF THESE PROCTORS?!' She_ rubbed her forehead, _'I don't have any fancy ability like Sasuke to help me cheat! With his Sharingan it'll be no problem for him!'_

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and copying the moves of the person in front of him. Neji activated the Byakugan so he could see through the person in front of him and find the correct answers. Some people didn't have a Kekkei Genkai either, but they had their own ways to cheat. Kiba used Akamaru to see and bark to him all the answers. Shino was using his bugs as spies. Tenten and Lee shared a well-made trick with mirrors. Ino used her Mind Transfer Justus to enter Sakura's body and get all her answers.

(I could've sworn I killed her…)

Gaara made an eye of sand to see the others' tests. A kunai was suddenly thrown at a guy's test, almost hitting Naruto as it pierced the air. The guy practically jumped out of his seat in surprise.

"What's the meaning of this?!" He asked angrily. One of the proctors smirked.

"You screwed up five times. You fail." The guy's jaw dropped. "Teammates of his get out of here."

It didn't take too long till other people start failing too.

"Number 23, fail."

"Numbers 43 and 27, fail."

"Number 59, fail."

"Numbers 33 and 9, fail."

"Number 41, fail."

"Numbers 35 and 62, fail."

"Everyone's being tossed out." Ryoko whispered.

"Excuse me." Kankuro said, lifting his hand. "I need to go to the bathroom…"

With that his hands were tied up and one of the proctors accompanied him to the bathroom.

Forty minutes had already passed.

"Yosh." Ibiki suddenly said. "I will now give the 10th problem."

Ryoko's and Naruto's face fell. _'I just had to get this one right and passed.'_

"Yes, but before that, there's one thing I must say." Ibiki continued. "There will be one special rule for this last question."

The door opened and Kankuro entered the room with an innocent look.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed at him. "You're lucky. Your puppet show didn't have to go to a waste. Oh, well. Sit down."

Kankuro walked back to his seat and, when passing by Temari, dropped a tiny note on her desk. And as he passed Akki he dropped a note on her desk discreetly.

"I will now explain. This is… a hopeless rule. First, you're all going to choose if you wish to take this tenth problem or not."

"Choose?" Temari questioned. "So what happens if we don't take the tenth problem?"

"If you choose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero. And there is the other rule. If you choose to take it and get it wrong… You will lose the privilege to take the Chunin Exam forever."

"Nani?!" Naruto exclaimed. A lot of people in the room had the same reaction.

"What kind of dumb rule is that?!" Kiba asked, losing his patience. "There should be those who have taken the Chunin Exam in the past!"

Ibiki chuckled at the boy's reaction. "You were unlucky. This year, I am the rule. That's why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose not to take it and take the Exam next year or the year after that. Let us begin. Those who are not taking this tenth question, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave."

Ryoko stayed put. _'There's no way that I'm turning back now.'_

Sasuke didn't move either. Naruto however shook in his seat.

A guy sitting beside Naruto lifted his hand.

"Number 50, fail." The proctor read. "Numbers 130 and 111 fail along with him."

"Me too!" Another person said standing up.

Soon the room was filled with people raising their hands, wanting to quit. In the end, only a few teams remained. Among them, the Rookie 9, Team Gai, Gaara's team and the Oto Team. When it seemed no one else would quit, another hand was raised. Sasuke's and Ryoko's eyes widened.

"Naruto?"

Yeah, it was him. Naruto raised his hand and slammed it on the desk, causing a loud BAM sound.

"Screw you! I'm not going to run away!" He shouted. "I'll take this problem! Even if I stay as a Genin forever, I'm going to become a Hokage no matter what! We're not scared!" Crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto sat down again.

"I will ask one more time." Ibiki smirked at Naruto's outburst, "This is the choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit, now is the chance."

"I'm not going to take back my words." Naruto said with determination. "That's my Ninja Way!"

Everyone seemed to get inspired by Naruto's words, because no one else raised their hands.

Ibiki nodded. "Nice determination. Then… For the first test, everyone here… passes!"

The sound of several pencils dropped. Everyone stared at Ibiki with wide eyes.

Someone stood up. "Wait! What's the meaning of that? We pass already? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki laughed. "There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two-choice question the tenth question."

"Hey!" Temari complained. "So were those previous nine problems?! It was all a waste!"

"No, it's not. The nine problems accomplished their purpose. The purpose to test each one's individual's information gathering skills."

Temari frowned. "Information gathering skills?"

"First, this test's purpose lies in the first rule. Your pass-fail decision is based on your teams. By giving that idea, we have given you an unprecedented amount of pressure to try and not be a nuisance to your team."

"Yes, yes, I was kind of sensing that in this test." Naruto nodded seriously.

Some could tell he was lying.

"But these test problems cannot be solved by you, Genins. So, most of the people here must've come to the conclusion that you had to cheat to get points. In other words, this test assumed that everyone was going to cheat. So, we snuck in a few Chunin who knew the answers to be targets of cheating."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock but then tried to play it off, "Hahaha! It was so obvious! It would be weird not to notice it. Right, Hinata?"

"But those who just cheated like a fool failed, of course." Ibiki continued. "Why? Information can have a greater value than life at times, and in missions and battlefields information is contested with the lives of people. The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate. Remember this. Getting incorrect information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So, we made you all gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those who were lacking in that field. That's what went on."

"But I still can't agree to that last question…" Temari insisted.

"But this tenth question was the main question of the first phase. The tenth question was a "take or not take" choice. Needless to say, it was a painful two-choice problem. Those who did not take it failed with their teams. If you chose to take it and could not answer it, your right to take the exam would have been taken away forever. It was a very insincere problem. Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation, those who give up when given the chance because there is a next year, and let their minds sway over an uncertain future… fools that carry a light determination like that have no right to become Chunin. I'm saying that you here who have chosen to take it gave the right answer for the difficult tenth question. You can deal with the difficulties you will face. You have broken through the entrance. The first phase of the Chunin Exam ends now. I wish you luck."

Just when they thought there would be no more surprises for the day, someone jumped in the room by the window, breaking it. Kunai were trapped on the ceiling, lifting a big red flag with something, I don't know what, written in kanji on it. The flag was positioned in front of Ibiki, so we couldn't see him anymore. A grinning purple haired woman wearing Konoha's headband on her forehead stood in front of it.

"Heads up boys and girls! This is no time to be celebrating!" She announced. "I'm going to be your next proctor! Anko Mitarashi!" She glared fiercely at everyone, "Ready for the second test?!" She raised her fist in the air. "Good! Then let's go! Follow me!"

Nobody moved, for they were still too stunned by the stunt she just pulled.

"You're early…again" Ibiki said, coming out from behind the flag.

Anko blushed in embarrassment before look before examining the room.

"78? Ibiki, you let 26 teams pass? The first phase must have been too soft!"

"It looks like there are a lot of excellent students this time."

"Oh, well… I'm going to make more than half of the teams fail the next phase."

"Fail more than half?" Sakura gasped.

Anko smirked evilly. "I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jounin teachers about the rally point and time. This is all. Dismissed!"

* * *

"Wh-what is this place...?" Naruto asked astonished. Team seven and all the rest of the passing candidates stood in front of a forest. Not any normal forest however. The tree trunks were the size of buildings. The darkness lingered along everything, dancing along to a deceiving song. Even the wind that blew the hair across their face signaled bad news.

"Welcome to the Forest of Death," Anko said, stepping in front of the Genin hiding the 'Forbidden Area' sign hanging on the fence in front of the forest. "This is where the second exam will take place."

"Forest of Death?" Naruto repeated.

"Sounds welcoming," Ryoko mutter, running her hand in her hair. She sensed something and looked past Sasuke. On the ground was a...square rock?

Naruto looked at the "rock" too, eye twitching.

"Is that supposed to be rock?"

Naruto started walking. The rock followed. Naruto stopped. The rock stopped. Naruto began to run back and forth, faster and faster. The rock ran after Naruto, faster and faster. After a moment Naruto stopped and rounded on the rock that had also stopped. Naruto pointed a finger at the rock.

"Hey Konohamaru! Come out! What do you think you're doing here! Everyone knows rocks aren't square!"

Ryoko sweat dropped. "Did you complete miss the fact that the rock was _moving_?"

"Good job detecting me boss, I should have suspected." In a flash of light and a puff of smoke, the "rock" was gone. In its place it revealed three children. Ryoko sighed; it was Konohamaru and his two friends. The three stopped coughing and started their introductions.

"The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult and the female ninja from the group, Moegi!"

"The one who loves dividing math, Udon!"

"The village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!"

The three forms together in a group pose. "And together, we make the Konohamaru ninja squad!"

"What do you three want?" Naruto asked, putting his arms behind his head. "I'm about to take the second part of the Chunin Exam, I don't have time to play with you."

"We didn't come here to play! We're on official business," Konohamaru said.

"Business?" Naruto asked, opening his eyes.

"We're here for an interview for the school newspaper," Konohamaru explained, his two friends nodded from behind him.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Anko walked over to the group.

"Konohamaru is doing an interview for the school newspaper," Naruto said.

"Huh? Oooh," Anko put her hand behind her head laughing. "Yes I forgot, the Hokage did mention something about that."

Everyone sweat dropped. "Forgot...?"

"Alright! We will be taking a ten minute break! We will resume afterwards!" Anko announced.

Ryoko sat on top of a large rock, Sasuke sitting against it. They watched Naruto talking to the young reporters several feet away.

"He's probably just talking about himself..." Ryoko sighed with tiredness.

"Probably..." Sasuke said bored.

"Alright, so I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm, of course, a ninja of the Hidden Village of Konoha. My hobby is pulling pranks. I love ramen and became a Genin just recently but you watch, I'm going to become better than all of the Hokage. In the academy I was always called a 'dropout' and other names but I was able to graduate and am a member of Kakashi-sensei's squad seven and I do difficult missions everyday. Sasuke and Rayne are in the squad too but I'm the best so don't worry about them," Naruto introduced.

"Don't say that, introduce them too," Konohamaru said.

"Alright, alright. Uchiha Sasuke, he's the most conceited person you'll ever meet. He's a survivor of the famous Uchiha clan but he's really just a miserable guy that mopes around," Naruto said.

"Are you sure boss?" Konohamaru asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes yes. I'm quite sure. Now, there's also Koneko Ryoko. She's one of my only friends and I have to protect her _all the time_. If I had a say, I'd say she has a secret fetish for me too-"

"Boss, stick to the truths," Udon interrupted.

"I am!" Naruto defended.

The three young ninjas just stared.

"A-anyway, the four of us do dangerous missions all the time. And with that, I've even defeated the 'great' Hokage by performing my famous Sexy no Justu."

"Boss...you talk about yourself too much..." Konohamaru complained.

"Well of course! I'm the main character here! Who cares about the others?!"

"The readers!" Konohamaru argued.

"Alright. fine! There is Iruka-sensei, teacher at the academy. He's the first person to actually recognize me and a good person. He treats me to ramen often," Naruto said.

"Next," Moegi stated.

"Okay...well I could talk about the time Sasuke screwed up..."

Ryoko and Sasuke twitched, catching some of the words Naruto was saying.

"Is anybody else finding that the school newspaper is going to be full of crap?" Ryoko asked, eye twitching at Naruto.

Sasuke nodded slightly. They all perked their heads up as the Konohamaru gang walked over to them.

"Excuse me," Moegi walked over to Ryoko. Rayne slid off of the rock, leaning against it beside Sasuke. "Ryoko, you the kunoichi I admire most, mind if I interview you?"

"No! I want to interview Ryoko!" Konohamaru exclaimed, stepping up beside her. Ryoko sweat dropped. Konohamaru took her hand and pulled her over to another tree. Sasuke's eyes followed her curiously. She leaned against the tree trunk as Konohamaru began his interview.

"Well, I'm Koneko Ryoko. I'm a part of Hatake Kakashi's team. Team 7. But trust me, we have just as much of an advantage as anyone else here. Don't take everything that Naruto said to heart. We all work together as a team and help each other out in a tight situation."

Sasuke had moved himself further from his group, pretending he was part of a different squad. Udon walked over to Sasuke.

"You're Uchiha Sasuke! I want to be just like you when I'm older! Can I get an interview with you?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I guess someone has to set the stories straight. The only person who would be close to telling you the truth would be Ryoko and that still leaves me with doubts."

Ryoko shoots him a glare.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My team consists of the jounin Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, and Koneko Ryoko. I contain the most skill on this team. Then again, there are a lot of people who are better than Naruto."

"Hey!" Naruto yelled.

"Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka of Squad 10. Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka with Akamaru, and Shino Aburame of Squad 8. Each one has their own unique talent…but I'm still better than all of them combined."

"Aw Sasuke, I thought you were setting stories straight." Ryoko chided. She smiled at Udon. "Don't take everything Sasuke says seriously. He graduated as top _male _rookie but I graduate as top _female_ rookie so we're equal. Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke hn and looked at her. "Aren't you supposed to be doing your own interview?"

"Hey, Sasuke! Stop making me look bad!" Naruto shouted, walking over with Konohamaru trailing behind.

"You don't need me for that, loser." Sasuke countered. "Believe it." He mocked.

"Hey guys, quit it! At least we made it this far right? Besides, we need to be a strong team or who knows what will happen in the forest," Ryoko said.

Sasuke and Naruto turned away from each other without another word.

"Well thanks for the interviews boss!" Konohamaru waved, Udon and Moegi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Well actually, there was no disappearing, they just threw colorful smoke bombs and ran off.

Back to the plot at hand….

"This sure is a creepy place..." Hinata squeaked as everyone was once again assembled in a large group in front of the forest.

Anko grinned as she stared at everyone. "Once inside you will all be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death."

"Hmph. And once you're inside you'll be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death," Naruto mocked, thrusting his hips out and wiggling up and down. "There's no point in trying to spook us! You're not gunna scare me away!" Naruto yelled with a satisfied smirk.

"Oh really? Well aren't you energetic?" Anko smiled, quickly slipping out a kunai and thrusting it at Naruto. The kunai whipped right past his cheek opened a scratch. Blood dripped from Naruto's wound as the kunai pierced the ground feet behind Ryoko. Anko appeared behind Naruto.

"It's boys like you that die first. After spilling the red blood I love all over the place." Anko was about to remove some of Naruto's blood with her finger but instead whipped out another kunai. She halted however when a boy from the grass village extended his tongue, handing Anko her kunai from before.

Rayne twitched. "Disgusting…"

The person's tongue was longer than usual, more than two feet as it held the kunai out. Anko just smiled, accepting her kunai back. "Thank you," Anko said with a smile as she took her kunai from the ninja. The grass nin's tongue flew back into their mouth. "But don't stand behind me like that; unless you want to die young."

"Gomen. I got excited at the sight of blood. And you cut my hair," the ninja spoke. The grass ninja smiled and began to walk away.

"Well, it looks like we have some very hot-headed candidates this year," Anko spoke with a smirk. "This is going to be interesting."

Naruto glared up at Anko, hand over his wound. "You're the most hot-headed person here crazy lady..."

Anko walked back to the fence, standing in front of a yellow sign that read 'WARNING: YOU MAY DIE'

"Now, before we start the second exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone," Anko reached into her long coat and pulled out a stack of papers. 'CONSENT FORM' it read on the top. Anko handed it to someone who took a sheet and pass it along.

"If you are going to take this exam, you must sign these."

"Why?" Naruto asked, obviously not having read his form.

Anko smiled. "Just so we have your consent that if you die it is not our fault."

The color drained from many of the genin's faces.

"Now, you will all be going through this extreme survival match."

"A survival match eh? What a drag..." Shikamaru yawned.

"First," Anko unraveled a map of the Forest of Death. "I'll explain the training area's geographical features. This forest has 44 locked gate entrances all around the area. There's a river, a forest and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 KM from the gate entrances. Inside this limited space you will have to go through a difficult survival program."

"Survival program?" Ino questioned.

"The survival program where anything goes." Anko put the map away and pulled out two scrolls. One was a cream color with the symbol of Heaven written on it. The other was black with the symbol for Earth written on it.

"Scrolls?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, you will be fighting for these scrolls," Anko held out the crème-colored scroll. "The scroll of heaven." she held up the black one. "The scroll of earth."

"26 teams passed the first exam. Half of those teams will receive a Scroll of Heaven. The other half will get the Scroll of Earth. Each team will start out with either one of these. You must fight over them."

"What's needed to pass?" Sasuke asked.

"Bring the Scroll of Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates," Anko answered.

"Okay, so say my team starts out with the Scroll of Heaven. We have to keep that safe and in our possession and then we have to fight a team to obtain their Scroll of Earth? Then make it to the tower with our team?" Ryoko asked.

"That's correct. You must have both scrolls and your whole team must make it to the tower," Anko confirmed.

"So this guarantees half of the candidates will be wiped out..." Ryoko sighed.

"And this all has to happen in a time limit. The second exams lasts a limit of 120 hours," Anko said.

Everyone's jaw dropped. "A whole five days in there!?"

"But what about food!?" Choji panicked from somewhere to the team's left.

"The Forest will provide you with everything you need," Anko responded.

"But there are a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bug and poisonous plants," Kabuto informed.

"So it's not possible for 13 teams to pass," Neji informed.

"As time passes, you will be required to move more and more," Lee said. "So your time of rest will be shorter and shorter."

"And we're surrounded by enemies. We won't be able to sleep in peace," Sasuke realized.

"People will get hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll as well," Anko stated.

"Can we quit in-between?" Shikamaru asked.

"Once you are in the forest, you must be in there for the duration of the time," Anko answered.

"Just as I thought," Shikamaru complained, arms crossed. "How troublesome."

"While were on the topic, here are the conditions that will fail you. First," Anko held up a finger. "A team who cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with all their teammates will fail. Second, a team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note, you are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower. "

"What happens if we look?" Naruto asked.

"That's a surprise to whoever dares to peek," Anko said with a sly grin. "If you become a Chunin, you will be handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. That's all I will say. We will exchange your consent forms for your team scroll and then you will pick a gate to enter through. Everyone will get a ten minute recess and then we will all begin at the same time." Anko looked up at all the candidates,

"And one last piece of advice...just don't die!" This scared Sakura and Naruto.

"D-don't die?! Are we really going to die!?" Naruto shouted.

"That's why it's call 'The Forest of Death'." Sasuke said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's time to trade your forms in for a scroll!" a man announced from a booth closed by a curtain. A few other Chunin took down the curtain as teams started to go over to exchange their forms for the needed scrolls.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright! I'm ready! Believe it!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

"We believe it," Ryoko nodded, standing next to Sasuke and him. For the past three minutes Team seven had stood in front of gate 12. Sasuke had been elected to hide the heaven scroll in his backpack. Naruto continued to jump around.

"Come on Naruto, save your energy until we actually get in the forest," Ryoko chuckled.

GATE 16

Akamaru barked.

"Yeah! Surviving is our specialty!" Kiba exclaimed. "Hinata, you better not go easy on anyone."

Hinata looked up and softly nodded.

GATE 27

"It's troublesome but we have to put our life on the line for this," Shikamaru said.

Chouji rummaged through his backpack.

"Let's what I have...potato chips, cake..."

Ino twitched as she watched her teammate count off all the food he had packed.

GATE 20

"The time has come...to accomplish our task," Dosu spoke underneath the bandages covering his face.

Zaku and Kin smirked.

GATE 38

Kabuto smirked, his two teammates eagerly waiting behind him.

GATE 6

"Don't take this too far Gaara," Kankuro warned.

Gaara remained silent and Temari sighed.

"You really should watch your own back, Kankuro and stay out of my way." Akki warned.

"Brat."

GATE 15

"So we're going after the rookies first, right?" a grass-nin asked, looking at his team members. The grass-nin from earlier smirked.

"It seems we can kill them here, it will become easier."

GATE 41

"Gai-sensei! I will get through this! Watch me!" Lee exclaimed in his head, fire in his eyes. Neji and Tenten smirked.

The team watched the Chunin unlock the gate. It was a long 30 seconds before everyone heard Anko announce,

"We will now begin the second exam of the Chunin Exams!" Everyone burst through the gates, taking a running start.

"Find the kids!" the grass nin spoke as they sped into the forest.

"Those four right!?" her teammate asked.

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed as the team walked into the forest, smirks set upon their faces.


	11. Forest of Death: Part 1

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto! Hey, it's been a while…I was going to put an Author's Note as a chapter but then I thought that nobody reads the Author's Note! So nobody wants to hear me rant, they want to read a crappy story to pass the time! So here we go…I hit a snag honestly…I think I found a hole in the plot or I lost the plot. So as always I'm making it up as I go and we know what happens when I do that…many mistakes….

Thank you reviews: Xx-NeGaTiiVe, NightxEcho, leogirl321, SpacePirateGirl, Riley Baragon, and Sasukeluver who sent me messages and alerts. And to all of those who alerted and favorited. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Song of my day...I'll by Dir en Grey

* * *

Ryoko sat in the base of the tee with her knees brought up to her chest. Sasuke and Naruto lay in front of her unconscious. She was, too, laying down next to them until she woke up finding herself inside the tree they're residing in.

And ever since she woke up, she watched Sasuke and Naruto.

"His breathing is going back to normal, but he still has a high fever," She noted as she stared at Sasuke. She pulled out her water bottle from her ninja pouch and crawled over to Sasuke. She gently took the white washcloth off his forehead, wet it with the cold water, and placed it back on his forehead. She repeated the same process for Naruto.

After that she sat back against the bark of the tree, _'Get some rest guys…' _She leaned her head back and stared out into nothing.

"Mom…" She whispered softly. "Dad…"

Later that day… 2 hours (I think) into the Chunin Exams (I still can't find the plot…did I leave it at Ichigo's house?)

"Ree..o…ko?" Ryoko heard someone whisper.

She turned looked at Sasuke tiredly. The blue haired boy had started wincing in pain in his sleep for some time. Ryoko figured it was from the fever that he had. She crawled over to Sasuke, "Hey…" She whispered and poked his cheek lightly, "Are you going to wake up or what? I can't stay awake forever and if an enemy comes…"

Sasuke's head turned slightly to face her. Strands of his blue hair lightly touched her skin and Ryoko couldn't help but gasp a little when she noticed how soft his hair is. Unable to resist, she lightly stroked his head. _'His hair is so soft…'_

"SNNNOOORRREE!"

Ryoko jumped. She looked at Naruto who was sleeping somewhat loudly. Ryoko stopped what she was doing and sat back at her original spot, _'Why did I do that? What was I thinking?' _She wondered to herself as she fought back a yawn. She wiped a tear from her eye. (It happens to me when I yawn a lot.) Then without realizing it…..she fell asleep.

(Hello? Plot? Where are you? C'mon can't finish the story without you. Damn, where the hell did I leave the plot? Maybe L took it…ah well, until then I'll make due with some filler.)

* * *

"Did she really fall asleep?" A male sound ninjas asked.

"That's disappointing," the other sound ninja said, the one with fur on his back. "We'll wait a little longer before making our move."

They continued to watch the team.

* * *

Lee hopped from tree branch to tree branch after splitting up from his team. He stopped on a tree branch and watched as a bunch of leaves started to flutter towards the ground. Lee got a glint in his eye.

"If I can catch all twenty leaves before they hit the ground, Ryoko will fall madly in love with me!" A blush appeared on Lee's cheeks as an image of Ryoko appeared in his mind.

"But if I miss even one, this will end as a one-sided love" Fire sparked in Lee's eyes. He dove down, fingers grasping at the leaves. "One, two three, four...five, six, seven..." He snatched them quickly. "Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen..."

Lee hit a branch. His eyes went white and his back hunched over the branch. "Nineteen..." Lee quickly got up as the last leaf fluttered towards the ground. Lee dove down and just as he grasped the last leaf, he looked to his left to see a brown squirrel on its back, on fire. Lee quickly landed and scooped up the squirrel, taking the exploding tag and crushing it before it could explode.

"That was a close one little guy. A little bit more time and you would have exploded with it," Lee informed as the little squirrel rubbed its black eye. Lee stared at the smoldering bomb in his hand with a serious face. "Who would do such a horrible thing?" (Animal-haters.)

* * *

"Stop hiding and come out," Neji spoke in the middle of the clearing. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji all sat, hiding behind the bush, they're eyes wide.

"How could he know! He's so fast!" Ino whispered exasperated.

"I can't believe such a troublesome guy found us," Shikamaru muttered.

"Plan number one- hide and avoid trouble, failed," Ino assessed. "Time for plan two."

"What's plan two?" Choji asked quietly.

"Distract target with my beauty," Ino whispered feeling full of herself.

Shikamaru sighed. "Oh geeze...whatever, let's just go."

Team ten scrambled to their feet and ran into the clearing.

"Oh boy! How lucky of us to get to meet last ear's number one rookie, Hyuuga Neji!" Ino exclaimed.

"Can I have your autograph!" Shikamaru asked faking excitement.

Ino reached up to untie the ribbon keeping her hair in a high ponytail. "Now, time for you to fall head over heels with my sexiness!" Ino undid the ribbon and her hair fell down, blowing in the breeze slightly. She winked. "I've always wanted to cross paths with you, Neji."

Neji simply turned around and started walking. "Be gone."

An anger mark appeared on Ino's forehead. "What! Wh-why didn't my charm work on him! Now I'm pissed dammit!" Ino yelled in her mind, punching her fists outward.

Neji stopped but did not turn around. "You're raising your fists towards me...does that men you want a fight?"

Ino immediately stood in attention. She smiled innocently. "N-no, not at all!"

Neji looked over his shoulder with a scowl. "Then be gone. I have no use for your scroll. If I take it from the likes of you I'll just be a laughingstock."

"Okay!" And Shikamaru, Ino and Choji ran and hid behind the bush once more.

"They're like cockroaches..." Neji muttered before walking off.

Team ten panted.

"Man that was close," Shikamaru commented. Ino stood up, tying her hair back up. "Alright, let's go find us some weak people!" She laughed maniacally, her eyes white and her mouth opened wide.

"There is no one weaker than us..." Shikamaru sweat dropped.

(How much trouble will I be in if I don't find the plot? What the hell does it look like anyway?)

* * *

Ryoko rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times to get rid of the blurriness. Her vision was adjusted and she realized she was still under a tree's trunk. She looked forward and saw the things much more clearly. The unidentified blurs were the Oto-nins from before. Lee, the green blur, lied unconscious next to them.

_'Whoa, what did I miss?' _She immediately stood in alert. She left the safety of the tree and confronted the Oto-nins.

"Hey, you there!" She said, "What are you doing here and what did you do to Lee?"

They stare at her.

"No one attacks a friend of mine and gets away with it."

Zaku stared at her with a mischievous smirk, "Well, well, if it isn't that female show off brat. Now that you're awake, how about a fight?"

"That's just fine with me you psycho!" She snapped.

"Cut it out, you have no chance against us!" The mummy guy said.

"We'll see 'bout that!" She said, even though she knew he might be right. She was still weak from the last battle. But she wouldn't let that stop her; she took out a kunai and threw it at the guy.

He raised his hands, revealing two holes that worked as air escapes. He sent a strong gust of wind towards her, deflecting the kunai and blowing her away.

Zaku laughed. "See? That's what happens when you get so cocky!"

"Zaku!" The guy with bandages yelled. "Don't kill her. Remember we still need her and Sasuke alive for Orochimaru."

Ryoko let out a small wince of pain as she sat up.

"Let me just have some fun!" Zaku complained. "But if you insist…"

He raised his hands, ready for the final blow. Ryoko thought it was the end for her for a moment until three people jumped in front of her. Her eyes widened when she recognized Ino, Shikamaru and Choji. Ino was standing up in the middle of them and Shikamaru was in the left, dragging Choji, who was in the right, by his scarf.

"Some new weird ones are here now." Zaku said with another smirk.

"Hello guys, what brings you here?" Ryoko asked innocently.

"Troublesome girl, you just had to butt in, didn't you?" Shikamaru complained.

"Do you think I'm going to let you get all the glory in front of Sasuke?" The blonde asked with a smirk.

Ryoko arched an eyebrow, "Uh…its Sasuke's nappy time right now." She gestured to the sleeping Sasuke. "So you know he is unconscious and can't see anything that is happening."

"What are you doing?" Choji panicked. "These guys are too dangerous!"

"It's troublesome, but we have to do this." Shikamaru said. "Since Ino just revealed herself, we men can't just run away."

Ino let out a nervous laughter. "Sorry to get you two involved, but we're a three-man team. We do everything together."

"Oh, well. Whatever happens happens." Shikamaru sighed.

"No! I don't want to die yet!" Choji cried.

Zaku chuckled. "You can run away if you want…fatty."

Shikamaru and Ryoko stiffened as Choji's ear perked up. An irritation mark popped on Choji's head.

"What's the matter?" Zaku asked.

"He used the 'f' word…" Ryoko whined dreading the worst. "But we still have a chance that he won't say it aga-"

"I said that you can run away if you want, _fatty_!" Zaku repeated.

Ryoko eyes widened. "Oh my. He's dead now."

They all turned to Choji, waiting for his reaction. He looked calm for a minute. But then the next second his eyes were white in anger and he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

"I'M NOT FAT! I'M BIG-BONED! HURRAY FOR THE BIG-BONED PEOPLE!"

Ryoko shook her head, "We are so doomed."

"Okay, you two understand that this is a fight between Konoha and Sound, right?" Choji asked his teammates in a maniacal tone.

"Ryoko..." Ino said. "Take care of Sasuke and Naruto."

Ryoko nodded.

"The Ino team is going to go with everything they have! Formation Ino!"

"Shika!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Chou!" Choji yelled.

The three of them started using their Jutsu, each one attacking one Oto ninja. Choji used Expansion Jutsu on Zaku, Shikamaru used the Shadow Possession Jutsu on Dosu and Ino used the Mind Transfer Jutsu to enter Kin's body.

(Okay, seriously. I can't find the plot! I had it and then it went missing!)

* * *

Zaku had repelled Choji's attack and caused him to undo his jutsu. Dosu had broken free from Shikamaru's jutsu. Ino was still inside the girl's body, but there was a line of blood falling down from her mouth.

"Close. You almost had us." Zaku said in a teasing tone. "You let your guard down."

"You're despicable." Another voice said.

Everyone looked up to the source of the voice.

"You bucolic nonentities think you're all that just because your sonic powers were strong enough to whump these novices." Neji said from a tree's branch with his arms crossed. Tenten was kneeled beside him.

"Neji and Tenten." Ryoko mutters.

"You guys just keep coming out like roaches." Zaku said.

"That bobbed hair kid there is on our team." Neji calmly said. His expression turned into one of anger as he activated the Byakugan. "Looks like you went overboard with him!" The Oto ninja's eyes widened at his Kekkei Genkai.

"You hurt him, so now you have to answer to us!" Neji had just finished the sentence and suddenly stiffened.

Tenten glanced worriedly at him, "What's wrong, Neji?"

"If you don't like what we're doing, stop showing off and come down here." The bandaged buy said, annoyed.

Neji shook his head. "No, it seems that there's no need for me to do that."

Then Ryoko felt it. Some kind of powerful chakra. A powerful evil one. One that made her body pulse with fear and power.

Sasuke was up. An intense flow of purple chakra circled him. It was so strong that even lifted some stones off the ground.

"Sasuke…"

His Sharingan was activated. The left part of his body was filled with black marks that looked like flames. Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

"Ryoko." Sasuke muttered. "Who did all of this?"

Ryoko opened my mouth and stared blankly as if she were under a sort of spell, "T-they…" She shook her head to regain herself, "Sasuke…your body…it's…"

Sasuke raised his hand a little and saw the black marks. His eyes widened slightly for a second before returning back to normal. "Don't worry. More importantly, I can feel power surging inside me."

"Don't worry?" Ryoko exclaimed, "There's a weird mark from Kami-knows-where covering your body and you want us not to worry?"

"He gave it to me." Sasuke said. "I finally understand, now. I'm an avenger. I must obtain power no matter what, even if I must let the devil take hold of my body."

Everyone's eyes widen as Sasuke spoke.

"Ryoko say it!" Sasuke demanded, getting impatient. "Who did all of this?"

"I did!" Zaku declared with a smirk.

Sasuke turned to him with an evil glare.

Ino undid her jutsu and her and her teammates hid behind a bush. Sasuke's murderous aura was scaring even them. Sasuke's chakra flow intensified. It was like he did want to kill Zaku.

"This chakra is too huge!" Dosu yelled in horror.

"Dosu! Don't be afraid of a half-dead guy!" Zaku scolded, raising his hands. "I'll finish this in a flash! Maximum Air Cutter!"

The gust of wind came out of his hands, at least ten times more powerful than before. Sasuke appeared beside Zaku and shoved him off with an arm. The Oto-nin fell aside, rolling several times before stopping. Sasuke didn't waste time to make the hand signs.

"Fire Style: Phoenix flower jutsu!"

Zaku quickly got to his feet as the fireballs came towards him.

"Don't get so cocky! I'll erase it!"

He sent his usual attack towards Sasuke's fire attack. The flames were extinguished by the wind, revealing shuriken hidden in them. The weapons scraped Zaku's arms, not causing any serious damage, but working as a good distraction for Sasuke to sneak behind him. In a blink of an eye Sasuke was pulling Zaku's arms upwards and his foot was pressed against the Sound nin's back. The Uchiha wore an evil smirk that no one had ever seen on his face before.

"You seem to be proud of your arms." Sasuke said. His grip tightened as he continued to pull. Soon the sound of bones breaking echoed in the air. Zaku's horrified scream pierced the air. Sasuke had broken both of his arms. The Uchiha threw the Oto-nin aside and turned to Dosu. "That leaves just you. You better entertain me better than him."

Ryoko and the others watched on speechlessly as Sasuke walked towards Dosu.

_'What was happening to him? He's almost acting like a murderer!'_

Ryoko got up with some difficulty. Sasuke was still walking in Dosu's direction.

"Stop. Please." Ryoko begged only for it to come out in a whisper.

The marks on his body started to retreat and in a few seconds they were gone again. Except for one on his neck. A black mark that looked like three commas.

"Sasuke!" Ryoko screamed, running towards the boy and pulling him into a hug. Without forces to push her off or even staying up, Sasuke fell on the ground, panting heavily. Sasuke's eyes were still widened in shock and Ryoko put a hand worriedly on his back.

"You're strong." Dosu said. He took out his Earth Scroll. "Sasuke, we cannot defeat you or Ryoko so let's make a deal." He put the scroll on the ground. "Please let us leave for now."

"Yeah, I think that's a good deal." Ryoko stated, arching an eyebrow while her teammates exchanged confused glances.

"If we are to fight each other in this exam for a second time we will not run or hide." Dosu said as he picked his teammates up. "If you really want to know why we're doing this, we don't know. We were just ordered." And without waiting for an answer, he left.

_'So Orochimaru gave Sasuke and me a strange mark with a powerful chakra and then ordered them to kill us? What's the point in doing it?'_

"Hey, are you okay?" Ino asked as she and her team came out of the bush.

"It's troublesome, Ino, but you take care of that Lee guy." Shikamaru said as he and Choji walked towards Naruto. The blond looked much better than before.

"Ryoko." Sasuke whispered. "Don't tell Naruto about this mark."

"Why? He should know about it."

"This is part of teamwork. It's only going to trouble me if he worries about me."

"You're not expecting me to lie to him, are you?"

"You don't have to lie if you don't talk about the subject."

"Okay then. Your mark, you decide. But I'm going to tell him about mine. I just don't like keeping secrets from the guy." She smirked a little, "And besides, a mark this big is very noticeable."

She turned to Naruto to see him being punched awake by Choji. He sat up with a volley ball-sized bruise on his head and screamed like there was no tomorrow.

"GAAAAAAAAH!"

Then he looked around with a confused look and he threw himself on the ground.

"Everyone, hide! No, get down! Where is he?"

Everyone watched on in confusion. Choji took a stick and poked Naruto's bruise with it.

"You're pretty dumb, aren't you?" Shikamaru asked in a tired tone.

Naruto glared at him and then looked at us. His eyes widened when he saw Ryoko.

"Ryoko!" He ran towards us as fast as he could. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little beat up. Nothing to worry about." She replied.

Naruto's eyes widened until they were bigger than his head when he looked at her intently. "You have this huge bruise on your neck!"

"I do?" She asked innocently as she touched it, "Must've been from that snake freak we fought earlier."

Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "By the way, why are you guys here?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Explaining this to you is such a drag."

Tenten jumped on the ground in front of Ino, who was carrying Lee.

"I'll take him now." She said. Tenten calmly grabbed Lee by his shoulders. The next moment her eyes were white in anger and she was shaking him madly.

"WAKE UP, LEE!"

"Tenten?" Lee asked, opening his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to help you."

"Uh? Where did the Oto ninjas go?"

"That Sasuke boy drove them away."

"Hey, you're Bushy-brows!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Lee.

Ryoko turned to Lee with a grateful smile, "Thank you, Lee. Thanks to you my teammates are safe."

Lee looked like he was about to cry.

"But I still won't go out with you." Ryoko added.

This time Lee did cry. "I-it looks like I need more training." He turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke. You live up to the reputation of the Uchiha clan. You drove the Sound ninjas away. You truly possess great potential and power while I lost horribly." He turned to Ryoko again, "Ryoko." Lee continued. "The Lotus in Konoha blooms twice. The next time we meet, I promise I'll be a stronger man."

Ryoko smiled, "And then we can fight right?"

Everything finally seemed to be fine. Orochimaru had taken their scroll and caused them to waste time fighting him and the Oto ninjas. Dosu had given them the Earth Scroll. But they don't have much time to find a Heaven one.

* * *

Otay, You guys remembered how I was feeling so excited about Zenkaikon? I got to go...only to not be let in. We stood in line for 2 hours in the freezing cold. We got to the doors! We were right there! And this chick cosplayed as Cloud told everyone who had pre-registered gets to go in and the others who didn't had to go home. and yes i was among the many hundred who had to go home pissed. Two of my friend pre-registered themselves but they didn't pre-register me or my sister. It was us who told them about the Cons and got them addicted! (some friends) So my whole saturday that day was blown. ( i couldn't pre register because it was full at the time)

Let this be a lesson to future cosplayers : PRE-REGISTER!


	12. Forest of Death: Part 2

Re-posted again!

riku92 , thank you very much for pointing out the repeat.

I think there's something wrong with my computer. Everything's getting pasted twice and i only did it once. Did it save twice when i made changes? I dunno, but hopfully it's fixed now.

* * *

Last time...I forget...but here's the next chapter...

"I could tell you, but I don't know either."

"'Person'?" Sasuke read, sounding really disappointed.

Suddenly a white smoke started to come out of the scrolls.

"It's a summoning inscription." Sasuke said in alarm. "Naruto, Ryoko, let go of the scrolls!"

Naruto and Ryoko threw the scrolls forward. The smoke started to rise up and the familiar poof sound reached their ears. They could see a silhouette standing in the middle of the smoke.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto exclaimed.

The Chunin was staring at the ground with his arms crossed above his chest.

"Hello. Long time no see." He lifted his head and gave us a pleased smile. "Looks like the four of you went through a lot of trouble."

"Nani? Why did you appear through a Kuchiyose no Jutsu Iruka-sensei?" Naruto questioned.

"We Chunin are to welcome the examinees at the end of this second exam. I was given the duty to pass the four of you a message by chance."

"A message?" Ryoko repeated.

Iruka-sensei took a pocket watch out of his pocket and opened it. The Chunin smirked.

"You made it just in time." He closed it and turned to us again. "Everyone, congratulations on passing the second exam. I'd like to treat you to ramen at Ichikaru, but-"

"YATTA!" Naruto yelled, throwing himself at Iruka-sensei and pulling him into a crushing-bone hug.

"Naruto let me finish!" Iruka-sensei scolded. Naruto lets go of him still cheering inwardly about the ramen.

Sasuke sat on the floor and Ryoko dropped to her knees, both completely exhausted. They sighed at Naruto limited energy as he continued to jump happily.

"Geez, you're still restless like before." Iruka-sensei said in a nostalgic tone. Naruto grinned in agreement.

"I see." Sasuke said with a smirk. All the stares turned to him. "If we looked into the scrolls during the exam… Iruka-sensei, what were you planning to do?"

Iruka-sensei sent them a guilty smile as he picked up the scrolls on the floor.

"Sasuke, you're as sharp as ever. As you have guessed, this exam tests your mission completion abilities. So, if you break the rules and open a scroll, we were ordered to knock out the examinees until the second phase ended."

Sasuke's smirk widened as he turned to Naruto and Ryoko.

"Aren't you two glad you didn't open it?" Ryoko and Naruto stiffened, wide-eyed.

"Ryoko sighed in relief, and then looked up to the poster again.

"Oh, and sensei." Iruka-sensei turned to her. "What does that text on the wall mean?"

"Who cares? We passed!" Naruto said.

Iruka-sensei sweat dropped. "Actually, my other mission is to explain to you what this means."

"Uh? Really?"

"Yes. This is the principal Lord Hokage wrote that you should keep in mind as a Chunin. The 'Heaven' in this text points to the head of the person. And 'Earth' points to the body. If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. That means, for example, if Naruto's weak point is his brain, he should study and prepare for his missions."

Naruto scowled.

"And if you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. For example, if Ryoko's weakness lies in the strength, she should train herself every day. That's what it means."

Ryoko pouted.

"And if you have both Earth and Heaven attributes, any dangerous mission will become safe. It can even become easy."

"What about that missing letter?" Sasuke asked.

"It's the letter that symbolizes a Chunin." Iruka-sensei opened the scroll and showed it to us. "The 'human' letter that was here goes in there. The survival mission you took part in the past five days tested the basic abilities of examinees as a Chunin. And you guys completed it. A Chunin is a commander-class. He has a duty to lead a team. Deeply inscribe into your heart the importance of knowledge and strength in missions. Never forget that Chunin principal, and go on to the next step. That's all I was ordered to tell you."

"Roger!" Naruto said.

"But don't push yourselves in the third exam." Iruka-sensei added, slightly worried.

"But we are supposed to do that." Ryoko said.

"Especially you, Naruto." Iruka-sensei said. "I'm worried about the-"

"Iruka-sensei." Naruto interrupted. "When I got this headband, I graduated from the Academy. There's no need to worry." He adjusted his headband. "And this is the proof you gave me to I'm not a child anymore, right, Iruka-sensei? I may still be reckless, but I'm not a kid anymore. Right now, I'm a ninja!"

Iruka-sensei remained in silent for some seconds, just staring at Naruto. "I see." The Chunin said. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Naruto grinned happily. "Now how about that ramen?"

Iruka-sensei sweat dropped. Same old Naruto…

* * *

They headed towards large arena, where the others were waiting. The teams were lined up in front of their sensei, the Exam proctors and the Hokage himself. Behind them there were two big stone hands performing a seal.

"First off, congratulations on passing the second phase." Anko said. "We will now have an explanation of the third exam from Lord Hokage. Everyone listen well."

The Hokage stepped forward and started his speech. Team 8 was there. Team 10 apparently had managed to take someone's scroll, because Shikamaru, Choji and Ino were there as well. Rock Lee's team was lined up beside us and beside them, the Oto team. Then there were Kabuto's team and Gaara's team.

(In the time it took me to write out that unimportant paragraph the Hokage, who was finishing his speech.)

A brown-haired Konoha Chunin jumped out of nowhere in front of the Hokage and kneeled to him.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage." He said. "I, Gekkou Hayate, will explain the third exam." The Hokage nodded.

"Please, do."

"Everyone, nice to meet you." Hayate said, turning to us and coughing a little. "Everyone, before the third exam, there's something I want you to do. Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance the third exams main battle."

"Nani?" Naruto yelled.

"Preliminary matches? What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked angrily.

Ryoko sighed in annoyance, not at him, but at the news "Exactly as he said. We will have to fight someone else and those who win will be able to advance the next phase. Why do we have to do this? Don't some of us get a break of something? Ya know to replenish our chakra?"

"Because the first and the second phases were too easy, I don't know." Hayate said.

_Too easy, yeah, sure._

"But there are too many examinees left. According to Chunin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the third exam. As previously mentioned by Lord Hokage, there are many guests for the third exam. We cannot have a lot of matches. We're limited on time, as well. So, those who aren't feeling well-" He stopped the sentence to cough a little.

_Talking about not feeling well… _

"Excuse me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, please let me know." Like anyone would want to quit after coming so far. "The preliminary matches will begin immediately."

"Immediately?" Kiba exclaimed crossly as some other people gasped.

"But we just got through the second exam!" Ino cried.

"Aw what a drag." Shikamaru creatively said.

Ryoko heard a small wince of pain from behind her and turned around to see Sasuke with a hand over his shoulder, where the mark was. "Is it activating?" She whispered.

He gritted his teeth and shook his head. Even if the mark wasn't activating, he still felt the pain from before. This could be a problem during his fight.

"I'm going to ask a stupid question. Should we withdraw?" She asked.

Sasuke's eyes widened and Naruto turned to hear their conversation.

Sasuke firmly shook his head, "No way."

"Good because I'm not backing out either."

(I know this is where Kabuto is supposed to raise his hand, but then I remembered that Gaara's team had an extra member and who is she going to fight? Even though Kabuto was absent everyone still had a chance to fight, that I don't get. But oh well. He's here.)

"Then, let's begin the preliminary matches." Hayate announced. "It'll be a one-on-one match. There are no rules. You fight until the other person dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. However, if I judge that the match's over, I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny-" He nodded at Anko, who said something through her mike. Some seconds later, part of the wall in front of us opened, revealing a huge black television screen. Everyone's eyes widened. "-will be this. This electric bulletin board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match."

The screen glowed yellow and turned black again. A lot of names scrolled through it so fast they couldn't read it. Finally, it stopped. Now there were only two names on the screen.

"Akadou Yoroi vs. Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke smirked.

"Those whose names were displayed, step up." Hayate said. Sasuke and one of Kabuto's strange teammates stepped forward. "The first match's fighters are Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?"

"No." Both said.

"Everyone other than the two fighters, please move up there." Hayate gestured to the balconies. Some people started to move, but Ryoko stayed for a little longer.

"Sasuke..." Ryoko called. He turned to look at her. "Don't let that curse mark take over or I'll make sure this is the last thing you'll ever do in your life."

The Uchiha smirked. "Worried?"

"You wish. It's just it affects me too…" She sent him an angry glare. "Just one more thing: Don't even think about losing." (Because I will personally kick your ass!)

"I won't." He smirked.

She smirked as well and followed Naruto to the balconies. The sensei also joined them up there. Some people leaned over the railings. Everyone was curious to see the top rookie's fight.

"Begin." Hayate announced, stepping backwards to make more room for the fighters.

Sasuke assumed a fighting stance and Yoroi made a seal. His hand glowed with blue chakra and he threw three shuriken at Sasuke. The Uchiha deflected them with a kunai, but faltered when his mark throbbed causing him to cry out in pain. Losing his balance Sasuke fell on the floor. In an instant Yoroi was in front of him aiming a punch at Sasuke's face. Sasuke rolled to the left and kicked Yoroi legs causing him to fall. Sasuke immobilized Yoroi pretty well, holding his head with the leg and his arm positioned on Sasuke's chest, with his other leg and one hand.

"He did it!" Naruto cheered.

Kabuto's teammate's hand glowed with chakra again and clutched on Sasuke's shirt. The Uchiha's eyes widened and he started to shiver. Feeling the grip on his arm loosening Yoroi slammed it on Sasuke's chest. He took his head away from Sasuke's leg and jumped backwards, leaving the Uchiha shaking in pain on the floor.

Ryoko gritted my teeth as Yoroi charged towards Sasuke prepared to strike. His chakra wrapped around his hand one more time.

"MOVE UCHIHA!"

Sasuke quickly sat up but couldn't dodge it in time. Yoroi pressed his hand on Sasuke's head causing him to fall on the floor again. Sasuke grabbed Yoroi's arm but couldn't find the strength to shove it away. After his futile attempts Sasuke released Yoroi with an incredibly exhausted expression. Everyone's eyes widened. Naruto was holding the railings so tight they might break at any moment. Kakashi-sensei tried to keep his "cool" pose, but he was worried.

Surprising everyone, Sasuke managed to gather strength on his leg and kicked Yoroi's chest. "Get off!"

Kabuto's teammate was thrown a few meters away from Sasuke. He, too, was surprise, but masked it well as he got to his feet.

Sasuke sat up again, panting heavily.

Yoroi chuckled. "Relax. I'll end this quickly."

He darted towards Sasuke using the same technique again. This time the Uchiha managed to stand up and dodge it. He dodged a few times until Yoroi's hand touched one of his hair's bangs. Sasuke reeled forward, using all his effort not to fall.

"What's wrong? Are you done for already?" Yoroi teased.

Sasuke swung a kick at him, but Yoroi jumped backwards and avoided it.

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled, frustrated. "You call yourself an Uchiha with that? Stop acting like an idiot! Get serious!"

Ryoko merely nodded. "Naruto's right! Get your butt in gear! You're just embarrassing yourself!"

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto and Ryoko saw his eyes widening slightly. _'He'd better have had a good idea, or else…'_

"You don't have time to look the other way!" Yoroi said charging towards Sasuke. He was coming closer. And Sasuke wasn't going to move until he locked eyes with Lee. (Ew, okay I hope I didn't make that sound like a pairing. *shivers*)

Sasuke dodged all of Yoroi's punches. A smirk came to his face. With an amazing speed, the Uchiha ducked and kicked Yoroi's jaw, sending him flying upwards. Everyone gasps. _That's Lee's move!_

Lee's and Gai's mouths dropped as they also realized that.

Sasuke appeared below Yoroi while Yoroi hovered above Sasuke.

"I'll admit that I borrowed that one but from here on out its all original." Sasuke said pressing two fingers on Yoroi's back. "This is the end."

Sasuke was about to strike when the mark on his neck started to glow. Ryoko clenched her teeth when her shoulder began to hurt too. Kakashi-sensei peered at her and then at Sasuke making the connection of what's happening to both of them.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. The mark slowly started to retreat until there were only the three black commas on Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha smirked and kicked Yoroi's left side but Kabuto's teammate blocked it with his arm. Then surprising everyone Sasuke raised his right fist and punched Yoroi's jaw. The ninja started falling upside down but Sasuke's attack wasn't over yet. He kicked Yoroi's chest with full strength.

"Lion's Barrage!" Sasuke yelled as everyone's eyes widened.

(I wanna know where the hell he got the name. I don't see any lions.)

The force of the attack sent the Uchiha backwards, landing on his chest. Yoroi let out a wince of pain and stood on the floor defeated. Sasuke slowly sat up breathing heavily and wiped a fillet of blood from his mouth.

Hayate walked to Yoroi to check his conditions even though there was no need for that. It was obvious who the winner was.

"I will stop this match now." The proctor stated. "The first match winner is Uchiha Sasuke. He passes the preliminary round."

"YATTA!" Naruto cheered with a huge grin plastered on his face. Everyone smiled in relief. "Way to go, Uchiha!"

The boy was exhausted. Sasuke's eyelids started to close and he was about to fall backwards when a cloud of smoke appeared behind him. Sasuke ended up leaning against Kakashi-sensei's knee while the Jounin lazily pretended to read his perverted book.

"You did okay." Sensei complimented, causing Sasuke to smirk.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled laughing. "You won in such an uncool way! You're all worn out, you idiot!"

Ryoko sniggered. It was impossible not to laugh when Naruto made fun of Sasuke.

The Uchiha sent us a weak glare, but soon turned to smirk again.

A group of medic-ninjas walked into the arena and took Yoroi in a stretcher. One of them walked towards Sasuke with a serious expression.

"Uchiha Sasuke, we'll give you the best treatment we can."

"This isn't your field." Kakashi-sensei said calmly. The medic sent him a confused look. "I'll take him." Kakashi-sensei kneeled down and whispered something in Sasuke's ear. His eyes widened, but no one else seemed to notice. Ryoko frowned. Whatever it was, it was something important. _'Don't tell me…Kakashi knows…'_

Sasuke reluctantly got up and walked to the exit with Kakashi-sensei, putting a hand over where the mark was. Naruto frowned at this and turned to Ryoko.

"Ryoko did you see some sort of weird wound on Sasuke's neck during the match?"

_'Damn, I was afraid he would ask that.'_

"Well…it's kinda hard to explain Naruto…" Ryoko hesitated, "But you shouldn't worry about it right now. You should be focused on the matches. This is a good time to learn everyone's weak points and make a strategy."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

Everyone's attention turned to the electric board, which started sorting the names again. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei stopped walking for a moment to see who would be fighting next. Everyone held their breath as the two fighters' names were displayed.

Everyone's eye's widened.


	13. Forest of Death: Part 3

My bad! Not a new chapter yet. My friend cought that I somehow entered the same passage twice. Don't know how that happened,

* * *

~Anbu Headquarters~

"What's happened is a disaster but the exam must go on." Anko said.

"Why?!" One of the Anbu asked.

Before Anko could reply they were interrupted by an exam proctor, "Thank goodness you're here, Anko!" He exclaimed coming into the room. "There's something I must tell you right away!"

"Now what?!" Anko snapped. "We're right in the middle of something vital!"

The proctor held up a video tape, "Observe!!" He rushed over to the surveillance TVs and placed the video tape in.

"Video surveillance, eh?" One of the Anbu asked.

When the proctor pressed play he pointed to the top of the screen, "Right there! Notice the time and date of the stamp!"

Anko's eyes widen in shock, "That looks like…"

The video showed Gaara's team entering the tower at 16:09.

"It is. It was shot from the interior of the tower…a mere hour and 37 minutes after the second exam began! The four ninja from the land of Sand have already completed the second exam."

Anko's eyes were still wide, "It's not possible."

The proctor continued, "In just 97 minutes…this is unheard of!"

The screen changed with Gaara glaring possibly directly at the security camera.

"Those four have far exceeded the skills of mere Genin! They've beaten the previous record by over four hours!"

"It's more than that…" Anko mutters.

"What do you mean?"

"It's roughly 10km from the gates where the students began the exam to this tower…their path filled with hazardous terrain, poison insects, savage beasts…and they strolled through it like it was a day at the beach!"

"Especially this red haired boy with the tattoo…"

"What about him?"

"Don't you see it?" Anko asked him.

"Huh?" He peered closer to the glaring Gaara.

"Oh, I get it! That's amazing!" The thinner Anbu praised.

"What are you going on about?"

"Look at his clothes…his body…"Anko told him. Looking out the window.

The proctor peered closer finally seeing what the others are seeing. "Oh."

Anko smirked, "There's not a mark on him anywhere…and not so much as a smudge on his clothes!"

"This must have something to do with his innate talents." The thinner Anbu said. "It's been a while since we've seen such a promising candidate."

-0- Day one, approximately 50 minutes after the start of the second exam…

Kiba, Hinata and Shino were rapidly jumping through the trees in the forest.

"Woohoo!! Surviving in these woods is as easy as I thought! We rule, don't we Akamaru?!"

"Woof!"

Kiba smirked, "We really lucked out…the first people to fall into our trap we set were carrying the Earth Scroll we needed! We'll be celebrating at the tower in no time!!"

"Chill out! It's way too early to celebrate!" Shino told him, "These woods are crawling with enemies, you know! When it feels threatened by external danger, even the smallest insect will always…"

"Alright already!!" Kiba interrupted him, "I get it…but how you manage to twist everything around until it relates back to insects amazes me! And just for the record, I'm the team leader!"

"B-but…but…maybe Shino has a point…" Hinata whispers.

"Alright Hinata! Fine!"

Both Akamaru and Kiba sniff the air, suddenly they stopped on a thick branch, "Stop guys!"

Hinata and Shino obeyed and stop next to him.

"If we're supposed to be on the look out for enemies maybe Hinata should check out what's ahead of us for the next kilometer or so." He turns to Hinata, "Can you do that?"

She nods and made a hand sign, "Byakugan!"

Using her vision she could see past tree after tree, and then she saw Gaara of the desert standing in a clearing.

"It looks like someone's in a fight…" She observed.

Shino laid his ear to the thick branch, "I think it's around six people…"

"Let's go check it out." Kiba decided abruptly, causing both Hinata and Shino to look at him in shock as Kiba hopped off the branch with Akamaru. Hinata followed after him. Shino sat on the branch for a moment longer, "That guy is so unpleasant, even a bug wouldn't bite him!" Then he jumped down and joined them behind the bushes.

In the clearing three ninja from the rain village stood across the four ninja from the sand village.

The shortest rain ninja scoffed, "The nerve of those brats from the village of sand…daring to try and take us on!

How foolhardy…" The second shortest mused.

The sand ninjas still stood strong being unaffected of their words.

The tallest rain ninja smirked, "Prepare to meet your maker."

"Are you going to fight us…or talk us to death?" Gaara asked, "We don't take orders from fossils like you…even if you wow them back in the village of rain…"

_'I can't tell whether this group has the heaven scroll…'_ Kankuro thought as looked that the opposing team. _'Maybe someone else has already ambushed them and now they don't have either!' _"Hey, Gaara! I thought we agreed we wouldn't fight anyone until we found out if they had the scroll we need! There's no point in attacking if we can't profit by it…we should only fight if there's something to be gained!" (You gain experience points)

"I don't want to hear it." Gaara said. "Anyone who crosses me…is dead meat."

The rain ninjas, Temari, and Kankuro flinched at his tone. Akki remained silent at Gaara's side.

_'I hate it when he gets like this…he's so creepy!!'_ Kankuro growled in his head.

The tallest rain ninja pulled out his parasols and opened five of them, "Sounds good to me!!!" All at one he tossed them high in the air, allowing them to flutter and float in a fixed position. Then he clasped his hands together, "You're dead, kid!! Shinobi art: Rain of needles!"

The parasols then spun rapidly and thousands of senbon needles sprayed out of the parasols, raining down on Gaara. Akki prepared to pull her giant boomerang from its sash, but Gaara gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, silently telling her that he'll handle this alone. Akki dropped her hand from her sash and stood quiet again.

The rain ninja smirked, "You're completely surrounded. No gaps…no blind spots. All 1,000 of those needles will swarm in response to my chakra, seeking you out like missiles that have locked onto you signature!!" Just as he said, he commanded the rain of needles to rain down heavy on Gaara and Akki. (Since she's right next to him.)

"Yeah! That was almost too easy!" His smirk turned into a frown as the dust began to settle. "Hunh?"

The dust cleared revealing Gaara and Akki almost incased in a cocoon if sand covered with needles. "Is that all you've got?" Gaara asked.

The rain ninja stood scared, "Impossible…not one needle…Nothing touched him!" The rain ninja tried the needle attack once more, but Gaara's sand protected him still.

Akki smirked, "A trick like that won't work against Gaara's sand."

Gaara glared death at the rain ninja, "A downpour of 1,000 needles, eh? Well, it's my turn…to return with a deluge of blood." Gaara willed his sand cocoon to fall, letting the senbon needles fall uselessly on the ground.

"A wall of sand?"

"That's right." Akki said, "Infinitely malleable…an impenetrable defense."

Kankuro took over the explanation, "Only Gaara has ever mastered the art. He draws the sand within the sphere of his own chakra…then manipulates it into the shape he needs and renders it utterly solid. Even more remarkably, it is done with no conscious effort on his part; it happens when he needs it to…independent of his will. Any frontal assault on Gaara is doomed to fail!"

"N-no way…"

"Those needles should be able to pierce even a five millimeter thickness of tempered steel!"

"Blast!"

"You're not skilled enough to touch Gaara." Akki told the rain ninjas.

The tallest rain ninja snapped and charged "Shut up!!!"

Gaara thrusts his palm outward, "Sand Coffin!"

Sand sprouted up from the ground and grabbed the rain ninja in a tight cocoon of sand.

"Uh-! I can't move!"

The parasols that were floating in the air closed and fell one by one to the ground. A specific one landed in front of Gaara and he brought the rain ninja a few feet off the ground. The rain ninja's teammates and team 8 watched on in terror.

"As you see, Gaara has total mastery over sand on the ground and in the air as well." Temari said from the side lines.

Despite from being nearly encased in sand the rain ninja still spoke, "I can free myself…e-easily…"

Gaara reached for the parasol, "If you don't stop talking, I'll seal your mouth and cut off your air." With a single hand he opened the parasol and used it to shield his head. "But you're hardly worth it…"

Akki had a feeling of what Gaara was about to do so she pulled out her giant boomerang and held it over her head.

Gaara raised his unused hand higher, raising the captive rain ninja higher as well. Slowly he closed his hand and the sand around the rain ninja tightened until Gaara final clutched his fist tightly, "Sand Burial!" The sand tightens enough to completely squish the captive rain ninja into nothing. Blood and sand rained and splattered on Gaara's parasol and on Akki's boomerang. Everyone gasped in fear.

"It's quick…and painless." Gaara spoke over the silence. "I used far more force than was necessary to ensure that. Bitter crimson tears flow from life-less eyes and mingle with the endless sands bestowing ever greater power upon the demon god."

(I dunno about you but that was very poetic and beautiful.)

The smallest rain ninja shakily placed a scroll down on the ground, "Here…take the scroll…please…just let us go!"

Gaara dropped the parasol and thrusts both his hands outward towards the remaining two rain ninja and encased them both in sand just as the last one.

Temari waved, "Bye-bye!"

Gaara clenched his fists and the last two rain ninja were no more than blood and sand. Behind the bushes, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino tried to escape quietly knowing that if they were spotted they would be dead.

Kankuro went and picked up the scroll the opponents had. "Lucky us…we needed the heaven scroll."

Akki smirked as she placed her boomerang down, "Now what was it you were saying earlier about no point in attacking? If we had gone with _your_ plan we wouldn't have gotten the scroll."

Kankuro glared at her, "Whatever, you brat. Now that we have the scroll we can head straight for the tower." _'The sooner we're out of here the better!' _

Gaara remained still, "Not yet."

Kankuro looked at him perplexed.

"No…I still haven't been sated."

"Come on, Gaara…let's go."

Gaara shifted his gaze to Kankuro, "Are you frightened…? Coward!"

"Gaara! Maybe you're fine, but Temari and I can't afford to take chances!"

Akki lazily waves her hand, "I'm fine too."

Kankuro snaps at her, "Butt out you brat!"

"What about my butt?"

Kankuro ignored her, "One set of scrolls is all we need. We're done."

Gaara raised his hand towards the bush Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were hiding behind, "Fool…I don't take orders from you."

Kankuro flinched a bit while Temari remained silent. Akki however idly placed her giant boomerang back on her back. Kankuro grabbed Gaara by his shirt and stared him down.

"That's enough! Just for once, Gaara, listen to what your big brother tells you!"

Gaara remained unfazed by Kankuro's actions, "I've never thought of either of you as my siblings. Cross me, and I'll kill you." He swatted Kankuro's hand away and turned his attention back to the bush.

"C-come on, Gaara! Please…Don't be so cruel. Aren't I like a sister to you? I'm begging…" Temari said nervously.

Gaara ignored her. Particles of sand slowly gathered around the bush where Team eight hid and they were shaking in fear.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled.

Gaara clenched his fist and held the cork to his cord in hand, "Okay…Fine…" He placed it back on his gourd and walked on.

Akki snorted and looked at Kankuro, "I tell ya Kankuro, when you try to tick someone off you really do a good job." She turns to follow in Gaara's foot steps.

Kankuro grunted, "Ugh…That's why I hate kids!"

* * *

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

They made a bonfire to cook their food. The only kind of food they could find during the time they were in the forest: fish. Ryoko looked at her fish hungrily, _'That's I get for having cat genes.'_

"It's been four days since the second exam started." Sasuke said thoughtfully, staring at the bonfire. They had wasted too much time recovering from Orochimaru's attack. Now they only had one day left to find a team that had the Heaven Scroll, fight them, win and go to the tower without being attacked.

Ryoko took a stick and poked the bonfire with a worried expression. "Yeah, you're right. A lot of teams might have already finished. If that's the case then finding someone with the Heaven Scroll will be even more difficult."

Naruto hadn't said anything in the past ten seconds. She glanced at him to find the blond staring at the fish with a dumb smile, probably thinking about how tasteful it would be after cocked.

"I expected you to freak out because we couldn't get a scroll by now." Ryoko told him.

"Hey, I can't think with an empty stomach!" He justified, turning his stare to the fish again.

"It's possible that there are no more Heaven Scrolls." She said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Four of the five days of the second phase have already passed." She continued. "That means we used up 80 percent of the time for the exam already. Total of participants are 26 teams. There are only 13 Heaven Scrolls and 13 Earth Scrolls, so only 13 teams can pass. On the top of that, that Orochimaru guy burned our Scroll of Heaven. Only 12 teams can pass now. Also, there's no guarantee that the other scrolls are safe." Sasuke nodded. "After we split up from the Konoha guys, we used two days to recuperate from our wounds. We'll need to increase the distance we move in a day. The last enemy we meet could be our last chance."

Sasuke stood up, "I'm going to get water."

-0-

Kabuto quickly grabbed Naruto's hand, preventing him from opening the scroll.

"You shouldn't do that." Kabuto warned.

Sasuke came out of nowhere and Kabuto explained what happened to him.

"I can't believe you guys. Naruto I can understand, but Ryoko I'm kinda surprised."

Ryoko shrugged, "Curiosity killed the cat."

"By the way, you're Kabuto, right?" Asked Sasuke, narrowing his eyes. "What are you doing here alone?"

"I'm not after your scrolls or anything." Kabuto quickly said. "A lot happened, but I was headed for the tower to meet up with my teammates." Kabuto turned to leave. "Excuse me now."

"Hey, wait!" Sasuke yelled.

Naruto and Ryoko sent him questioning looks.

"Fight me." Sasuke said.

Kabuto smirked. "Fight? How about instead I tell you what path to take. But let's talk while we walk. The bonfire's smoke was carrying the smell of grilled fish. If we stick around, wild animals and enemies will come around us."

Not having any better ideas, they nodded and followed him.

-0-

"Are you sure there are enemies left?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it." Kabuto replied, adjusting his glasses. "You just need to think a little to understand. In a jungle battle like this or in an open forest, do you know the cleverest way to fight? The goal of the examinees is the tower at the center of this forest. That means on the last day, the easiest place to get a scroll is-"

"Around the tower." Ryoko completed.

Kabuto nodded. "That's one third correct." Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "That means you're not the only one thinking that. People who thought of the same idea should have traps set up around the tower."

"I got it! So that means there are lots of enemies waiting there for us!" Naruto concluded. "It's more exciting when there's a handicap. I look forward to it! We just need to beat those guys, get the Heaven Scroll and we'll be out of there!"

"No, that's only two-thirds correct." Kabuto said.

"Come on; don't tell me there's more!"

"What is the remaining one-third?" Sasuke asked.

"We have to think of the 'collectors' who appear in exam like this." Kabuto said, "Even if the tower is really close, you're still not safe in this exam. This special situation gives birth to them. In other words, if they meet an unexpected enemy they give extra scrolls and give one to the enemy in exchange for going free. Or by giving friends who are in the same village the scroll they need, they can gain information to get through the remaining phases easier. Or crush those strong ones who will get to the third exam. Although you've probably figured out by now, they are pretty strong. They're the worst enemies you can meet since they're never satisfied."

"I see. I get the reason why you came with us." Sasuke said with a smirk. "You're afraid of them too, right?"

"Yes." Kabuto admitted shamelessly.

* * *

"Now, there's the tower." Kabuto said.

"Finally!" Ryoko sighed throwing collapsing on the ground.

"This is where things get crucial." Kabuto continued.

"Let's do it!" Naruto yelled.

A rustle of leaves behind them made them tense up. Naruto immediately took out a kunai and threw it in the sound's direction. They turned around to see the knife stuck into a huge centipede's head.

"Oh, it's just a centipede." Naruto said in relief.

"Just a centipede?! It's a freaking huge centipede!" Ryoko whispered, trying to keep the low tone, pointing at the insect.

"Naruto." Kabuto called. "I want to avoid careless actions and unnecessary noises from here on out. If we go through this jungle making noises as an elephant, it's the same as signaling everyone that we're coming. We will receive a passionate welcome."

Naruto clasped his hands over his mouth and gave Kabuto a quick nod.

"We will hide and move slowly, as time allows."

"Okay."

* * *

"How long have we walked?" Ryoko asked. "The tower isn't getting closer at all."

"It looks like its right in front of us… This is weird."

"Yeah." Sasuke said.

"It looks seems that we're already inside someone's Genjutsu." Kabuto said, narrowing his eyes. He pointed forward. "See? Look over there."

They looked forward and their eyes widen.

"Is that-?" Naruto asked.

"Not the enormous centipede again!" Ryoko cried.

"A Genjutsu." Sasuke said.

"It seems that we were tricked into walking in circles." Kabuto said.

"We're being watched." Sasuke said.

"They most likely want us to waste our strength and were planning a surprise attack when we're tired."

"Then we're already playing to the enemy's plan."

"They might attack us soon."

Ryoko's eyes narrowed as she looked around. Lots of ninjas dressed in plain black jumpsuits and with Amegakure's headband started to come out of the trees, surrounding them. The five assumed fighting stances as the clones walked closer to them.

Sasuke smirked. "They're here."

"There are lots of them. And they're all doppelgangers." Kabuto said.

One of the replications chuckled. "Like a mouse in a trap."

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, darting towards him. He raised his fist and punched the clone's stomach.

"They can't be that easy to defeat." Ryoko said.

Naruto's fist went through the clone's body. The blond lost his balance and fell forward on the ground. The replication's left side started to melt and another one came out of it, holding a kunai. Naruto's eyes widened.

"What's going on?"

"Sharingan." Sasuke said, activating his Kekkei Genkai.

The replication lifted its kunai, aiming at Naruto.

"Naruto!" Ryoko yelled, quickly throwing a shuriken at the clone's arm, causing it to melt. The clone slowly turned to them, lifting another kunai. He aimed at Sasuke at threw it. The boy just stared at the kunai coming towards him, motionless. The blade scraped her shoulder as Ryoko threw herself on Sasuke, avoiding the attack. Sasuke fell on the ground and Ryoko landed on the top of him.

"Ryoko! Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.

"We're fine." Ryoko said, getting off Sasuke and looked at the ground, _'Why did my body just react like that? Pulling him aside would've been efficient enough, but to actually throw myself at him…?'_

Surprisingly enough, Sasuke said nothing in reply. Then she saw it. The mark in his neck turning red again. Her eyes widened. _'That must be it…' _Ryoko helped him to sit up.

"Are you okay?"

"Since Ryoko got hurt, does it mean they're Kage Bunshin with real flesh?" Naruto asked, getting up and taking out a kunai. "Kage Bunshin should disappear if they're hit cleanly. Since they don't disappear, are they really Genjutsu? Which is it?!"

Ryoko got to her feet, taking out her kunai as well. "I don't know, but we better find out quickly."

Naruto raised his kunai, ready to strike, but Sasuke's voice stopped him.

"It's useless, stop!" They turned to him with questioning looks. "They're just illusions. It's a Genjutsu used by the enemy."

Ryoko touched the cut on her arm. "But the cut is real."

"No, Sasuke is right." Kabuto said. "The enemy is most likely hidden somewhere. They're attacking us from somewhere else while matching the illusion ninja's movements. This makes it seems like the illusion ninja are attacking us."

"Then we'll find the idiots hiding in the forest and beat them up!" Naruto shouted.

"Wait, Naruto." Kabuto said. "In this situation, the source of the real kunai is hidden, so we can't figure out the enemy's exact location. Do you understand now? That's their tactic. According to my data, those who are weak in Taijutsu prefer to attack like this. The real enemy won't come out until we can't move at all."

"But if we can determine the enemy's position from the attack-" Ryoko insisted

"It won't be precise. Hurting yourself for something with such a high chance of failure is too risky. We can only dodge the enemy's attack right now." Kabuto interjected.

"All right, if you're planning on doing that…" Naruto said.

The replications attacked, throwing several kunai at them. Ryoko and Naruto did as Kabuto said and only dodged. Kabuto was right. There were too many, they couldn't determine precisely from where the enemy was attacking.

They were panting heavily by the time they stopped. Ryoko growled in frustration.

"There's no end to this!" She whined.

Naruto did the first hand sign for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

"I'll just-"

"Stop, Naruto." Kabuto interrupted. "Don't waste your chakra. There's no point in attacking them."

"If we get rid of the illusions at once, the enemy can't attack during the time they return back to normal." Ryoko smirked, doing the hand signs as well. "And the best way of doing this is, of course…"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" They yelled in unison. Their doppelgangers appeared beside them. They and their Kage Bunshin ran towards the enemy's replications, destroying them as fast as they could. It was tougher than it seemed. The replications melted and rose back in seconds. Naruto and Ryoko have a lot of stamina, but this could wear anyone out. Soon Kabuto and Sasuke joined the fight, slashing the replications with their kunai.

When Ryoko realized all her clones were gone as well as Naruto's, Sasuke and Kabuto were down on their knees, panting heavily.

"I'm not done yet…" Naruto growled, lifting his kunai to attack. Before he could do that, he lost his balance and fell on the ground.

Ryoko kneeled down, trying to catch her breath. Time was running out.

Suddenly, the enemy's replications started to disappear before their eyes. In their place there were three ninjas with Amegakure's headband. One of them, in the middle, was the one we first fought in the forest. He turned to Sasuke with a pleased look.

"You. You're the one who injured my left shoulder, right? I finally found you." He lifted his kunai. "You wasted our time. How lucky, I can finally get revenge."

"Like a mouse in a trap." Sasuke's voice echoed from the trees.

"It went well." Ryoko's voice said.

Naruto smirked at the Ame ninjas' confusion.

"What did they do-?"

The enemy ninjas turned back to see Sasuke, Ryoko and Kabuto behind them with victoriously smirks.

"That can't be!" One of the Ame ninjas exclaimed. "When did they-!"

"Kage Bunshin." Ryoko answered. "And Henge. Pretty awesome combination."

"You idiots finally revealed yourselves." Naruto said.

Ryoko and Naruto cancelled the Henge. The Ame ninjas stared at them incredulously.

"Nani? Did these kids-?"

Sasuke smirked. "A Genjutsu master was fooled."

Naruto nodded and fell on one knee on the ground, panting.

"Naruto, you used up too much chakra." Sasuke said. "I'll do the rest."

Naruto punched one of the Ame ninja's. He lost the balance with the punch and fell on his companions, sending the three to the ground.

"I'm not going to let you take all the good parts like that." Naruto said, panting a little.

The Ame ninjas got up, quickly doing hand signs.

"Pretty good. But we're not in an unlucky situation yet. Time is running out. We'll show you our Ninjutsu now."

"If they're just replications, there's only one real one." Naruto said.

"We just have to beat all of them until there're only the real ones left." Ryoko said.

"Idiots, that's a waste of energy!" Sasuke butted in.

"I told you not to interfere!" Naruto snapped angrily.

Naruto and Ryoko darted into battle again. Kabuto tried to convince them to stop but they wouldn't.

"Argh!" Sasuke groaned holding his neck.

"Ah!" Ryoko's neck began to burn as well; she stopped in the middle of her attack to hold her neck.

"Don't let your guard down!" One of the Ame ninjas yelled, appearing in front of them with a kunai. He brought the kunai down. They didn't have time to dodge it. Kabuto had thrown himself onto Naruto and Ryoko, pushing them out of the way and getting a deep cut. The boy dropped them as he fell on the ground.

"Kabuto!" Naruto yelled.

"Stop it, guys!" Sasuke yelled. They turned back to look at him. He was still wincing in pain and so was Ryoko. "No matter how much you try, the real one isn't in those replications."

"Then where's the enemy going to attack from?" Naruto asked. "If they're normal replications, the replications themselves can't attack us!"

"If we knew that, there'd be no reason for us to work this hard. This is the enemy's plan."

Another replication raised from the ground their direction, raising a kunai.

Kabuto falling aside with a cut on his face bleeding slightly. The true Ame ninjas were popping out of the ground and attacked Kabuto with a kunai. They gathered around the silver-haired boy, ready for the final blow. But Naruto nailed them all in the face with a swift kick, sending them all flying to the ground and knocked out. The replications finally disappeared when the three ninjas fell on the ground.

"Don't let your guard down, wasn't it?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

Kabuto sighed in relief and smiled at us. "Thanks you two. You saved me."

Ryoko fell on her butt with a satisfied expression.

Naruto searched the Ame ninjas' bodies until he found what we were looking for.

"Look! It's a Heaven Scroll!" He yelled, lifting it victoriously.

"YATTA!" They cheered, throwing their arms up.

"Great." Kabuto said with a smile.

* * *

They stopped in front of two of the tower's red doors when two identical ninjas with Konoha headbands and black cloth covering their mouths approached them.

"You're late, Kabuto." One of them scolded.

"I was caught up in some trouble." Kabuto apologized.

"But thanks to you we got the two scrolls!" Naruto said excitedly.

"No, it's because of your hard work." Kabuto corrected. "Especially that last move. You were incredible, Naruto-kun." Naruto grinned. "We'll go through this door. Good luck to all of us."

"Yeah!"

"Yep."

Kabuto and his teammates disappeared.

Naruto opened the doors and they enter the spacious room. Inside the room had two upper balconies and kanji seals decorated on the walls. On the far wall across the entrance was a scroll with kanji letters.

"No one's here." Naruto said stopping in the middle of the room.

"Ryoko, I'm okay now." Sasuke said moving his arm off her shoulder.

"Alright…" She said with concern.

"What are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked.

Ryoko notice the scroll on the wall and read it out loud, "Hm? _'If qualities of Heaven are your desires, Acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, Train your body in the field and prepare to attack. When both Heaven and Earth are opened together, The path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever. This " " is the secret way……that guides us on from this place today '. _The third Hokage wrote this.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-


	14. Preliminaries: Part 1

Something happened that no one told me! Chapter 14 had been dramatically changed! I was flipping through the chapters and saw that the credits page was on it! How in the world did that happen? Oh man! Everyone must've been confused – and – oh man! I don't even have the chapter anywhere on my computer any more! Dammit, I have to write it all over!

* * *

"What are we supposed to do now?" Ryoko asked looking at Sasuke and Naruto.

"I think we're supposed to open the scrolls." Sasuke answered handing her the Heaven scroll and Naruto the Earth scroll.

With shaking hands, Ryoko and Naruto looked at each other first before slowly opening the scroll. Their eyes widen in shock when they read a single kanji character in the center of both scrolls.

"What is this?" Naruto asked confused.

Ryoko tilted her scroll, "A 'man'? A 'person'?" She guessed equally confused.

Then suddenly both scrolls began to smoke! Sasuke's eyes widen in recognition, 'This is…a summoning scroll!' "Naruto! Ryoko! Drop the scrolls!"

Startle by Sasuke's yelling, both Naruto and Ryoko threw the scrolls away.

When the scrolls landed a familiar 'Poof' sound rung in their ears as the clouds clung around a dark figure.

Their eyes widened as the smoke cleared revealing someone they least expected to see.

"Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka stood there proudly with his arms crossed as he faced his former students, "Hello. Long time no see."

"What's going on?" Ryoko asked surprised.

"Looks like you three of you went through a lot of trouble." Iruka-sensei joked.

"Nani? Why did you appear through a summoning jutsu, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto questioned.

"We Chuunin are to welcome the examinees at the end of this second Exam. I was given the duty to pass the four of you a message by chance."

"A message?" Ryoko repeated.

Iruka-sensei took a pocket watch out of his pocket and opened it, "You made it just in time." He closed it and turned to them again. "Everyone, congratulations on passing the second Exam. I'd like to treat you to ramen at Ichikaru, but-"

"YATTA!" Naruto yelled, throwing himself at Iruka-sensei and pulling him into a crushing-bone hug.

"Naruto, let me finish!" Iruka-sensei scolded. Naruto lets go of him still cheering inwardly about the ramen.

Sasuke sat on the floor and Ryoko dropped to her knees, both completely exhausted. They sighed at Naruto's unlimited energy.

"Geez, you're still restless like before." Iruka-sensei said in a nostalgic tone.

Naruto grinned in agreement.

"I see." Sasuke said with a smirk, "If we looked into the scrolls during the Exam… Iruka-sensei, what were you planning to do?"

Iruka-sensei sent them a guilty smile as he picked up the scrolls on the floor.

"Sasuke, you're as sharp as ever. As you have guessed, this Exam tests your mission completion abilities. So, if you break the rules and open a scroll, we were ordered to knock out the examinees until the second phase ended."

Sasuke's smirk widened as he turned to Naruto and Ryoko.

"Aren't you two glad you didn't open it?"

Ryoko and Naruto stiffened, wide-eyed.

"Kabuto-san, arigatou!" Naruto said, clapping his hands together.

Ryoko sighed in relief, then looked up to the poster again, "Oh, sensei." Iruka-sensei turned to her. "What does that text on the wall mean?"

"Who cares? We passed!" Naruto said.

Iruka-sensei sweat dropped, "Actually, my other mission is to explain to you what this means. This is the principal Lord Hokage wrote that you should keep in mind as a Chuunin. The 'Heaven' in this text points to the head of the person. And 'Earth' points to the body. If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. That means, for example; if Naruto's weak point is his brain, he should study and prepare for his missions."

Naruto scowled.

"And if you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. For example, if Ryoko's weakness lies in the strength, she should train herself every day. That's what it means." Ryoko stuck out her tongue, rubbing the back of her head. "And if you have both Earth and Heaven attributes, any dangerous mission will become safe. It can even become easy."

"What about that missing letter?" Ryoko asked.

"It's the letter that symbolizes a Chunin." Iruka-sensei opened the scroll and showed it to us. "The 'human' letter that was here goes in there. The survival mission you took part in the past five days tested the basic abilities of examinees as a Chunin. And you guys completed it. A Chunin is a commander-class. He has a duty to lead a team. Deeply inscribe into your heart the importance of knowledge and strength in missions. Never forget that Chunin principal, and go on to the next step. That's all I was ordered to tell you."

"Roger!" Naruto exclaimed.

"But don't push yourselves in the third Exam." Iruka-sensei added, slightly worried.

"But we are supposed to do that!"

"Especially you, Naruto." Iruka-sensei said, "I'm worried about the-"

"Iruka-sensei." Naruto interrupted. "When I got this headband, I graduated from the Academy. There's no need to worry." He adjusted his headband. "And this is the proof you gave me to I'm not a child anymore, right, Iruka-sensei? I may still be reckless, but I'm not a kid anymore. Right now, I'm a ninja!"

Iruka-sensei remained in silent for some seconds just staring at Naruto.

"I see." The Chunin said. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Naruto grinned happily, "Now how about that ramen?"

Iruka-sensei sweat dropped. Same old Naruto…

* * *

The teams were lined up in front of their sensei's, the Exam's proctors and the Hokage himself. Behind them there were two big stone hands performing a seal.

"First off…congratulations on passing the second phase." Anko said. "We will now have an explanation of the third Exam from Lord Hokage. Everyone listen well."

The Hokage stepped forward and started his speech.

As the Third Hokage spoke everyone took the opportunity to look around to see who had made it through. Team 8 was there, which was no surprise; their specialty was survival training. Team 10 apparently had managed to take someone's scroll. Rock Lee's team was lined up beside Naruto's and beside them, the sound team. Of all the teams, they just had to pass… Then there was Kabuto's team and Gaara's team.

A brown-haired Konoha Chunin jumped out of nowhere in front of the Hokage and kneeled to him.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage." He said. "I, Gekkou Hayate, the judge, will explain the third Exam."

The Hokage nodded, "Please, do."

"Everyone, nice to meet you." Hayate said, turning to us and coughing a little. "Everyone, before the third Exam, there's something I want you to do. Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance the third Exam's main battle."

"Nani?" Naruto yelled.

"Preliminary matches? What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked angrily.

"It must have been because the first and the second phases were too easy, I don't know." Hayate said. "But there are too many examinees left. According to Chunin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the third Exam. As previously mentioned by Lord Hokage there are many guests for the third Exam. We cannot have a lot of matches. We're limited on time, as well. So, those who aren't feeling well-" He stopped the sentence to cough a little.

_Talking about not feeling well… _

"Excuse me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, please let me know." When no one had any objections he continued, "The preliminary matches will begin immediately."

"Immediately?" Kiba exclaimed indignantly as some other people gasped.

"But we just got through the second Exam!" Ino cried.

"Oh man, what a drag." Shikamaru moaned.

"That's just great." Ryoko stated sarcastically, "We don't even get a rest break."

Then she heard a small wince of pain from behind her and turned around to see Sasuke with a hand over his shoulder, where the mark was.

Her eyes widened, "Is it activating?" she whispered.

He gritted his teeth and shook his head. She frowned, slightly worried. Even if the mark wasn't activating, he still felt the pain from before. This could be a problem during his fight.

"Sasuke." Ryoko said, "I'm going to ask a stupid question and ask: Do you want to withdraw?"

"May I assume there are no more people who wish to retire?" Hayate asked again.

"There's no way I'm going to withdraw after coming this far." Sasuke said in a final tone.

Ryoko smirked, "Good because I would've told you to suck it up and fight. That's the Uchiha way isn't it?"

"Hey." Naruto whispered turning to face his whispering teammates, "What are you guys whispering about?"

"Nothing."

"Naruto." Sasuke interrupted with a smirk. "I want to fight you too."

The blond stared speechlessly at Sasuke for a moment. His lips then curved into a smile.

"Then let's begin the preliminary matches." Hayate announced. "It'll be a one-on-one match. There are no rules. You fight until the other person dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. However, if I judge that the match's over, I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny-" He nodded at Anko, who said something through her mike. Seconds later, part of the wall in front of them opened, revealing a huge black television screen. "-will be this. This electric bulletin board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match."

The screen glowed yellow and turned black again. A lot of names scrolled through it so fast none could read it.

Finally, it stopped. Now there were only two names on the screen.

"Yoroi Akadou vs. Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked. Wow, he's got to fight already?

"Those, whose names were displayed, step up." Hayate announced.

Sasuke and one of Kabuto's teammates stepped forward. "The first match's fighters are Yoroi Akadou and Sasuke Uchiha. Are there any objections?"

"No." Both said in sync.

"Everyone other than the two fighters, please move up there." Hayate gestured to the balconies.

Some people started to move, but Ryoko stayed for a little longer.

"Sasuke." He turned to look at her. "You better not lose or else you'll have to deal with me."

The Uchiha smirked.

"Worried?"

"You wish." She sent him an angry glare. "Just one more thing: Don't let that mark control you."

"I won't."

She smirked and followed Naruto to the balconies. The sensei also joined them up there. Some people leaned over the railings. Everyone was curious to see the top rookie fight.

"Begin." Hayate announced, stepping backwards to make more room for the fighters.

Sasuke assumed a fighting stance and Yoroi made a seal. His hand glowed with blue chakra and he threw three shuriken at Sasuke. The Uchiha deflected them with a kunai, but another thing happened then. His mark glowed a little, causing him to cry out in pain. Losing his balance, Sasuke fell on the floor.

The next second Yoroi was in front of him aiming a punch at Sasuke's face. Sasuke rolled to the left and kicked Yoroi legs causing him to fall. Sasuke immobilized Yoroi pretty well, holding his head with the leg and his arm, positioned on Sasuke's chest, with his other leg and one hand.

"He did it!" Naruto cheered. Ryoko grinned as well but it soon disappeared when she saw Yoroi's move.

Kabuto's teammate's hand glowed with chakra again and clutched on Sasuke's shirt. The Uchiha's eyes widened and he started to shiver. Feeling the grip on his arm loosening Yoroi slammed it on Sasuke's chest. He took his head away from Sasuke's leg and jumped backwards, leaving the Uchiha shaking in pain on the floor.

I gritted my teeth as Yoroi charged towards Sasuke prepared to strike. His chakra involved his hand one more time.

"Move your butt Uchiha!"

Sasuke quickly sat up, but couldn't dodge it in time. Yoroi pressed his hand on Sasuke's head, causing him to fall on the floor again. Sasuke grabbed Yoroi's arm, but couldn't find the strength to shove it away. After a moment, Sasuke released Yoroi with an incredibly exhausted expression.

Everyone's eyes widened at the fact that Sasuke might've given up. Naruto was holding the railings so tight they might break at any moment.

Surprising everyone, Sasuke managed to gather strength on his leg and kicked Yoroi's chest.

"Get off!" Kabuto's teammates was thrown a few meters away from Sasuke. He, too, was surprise, but he got to his feet.

Sasuke sat up again, panting heavily.

Yoroi chuckled. "Relax. I'll end this quickly."

He darted towards Sasuke, using the same technique again. This time the Uchiha managed to stand up and dodge it. He dodged a few times until Yoroi's hand touched one of his hair's bangs. Sasuke reeled forward, using all his effort not to fall.

"What's wrong? Are you done for already?" Yoroi teased.

Sasuke swung a kick at him, but Yoroi jumped backwards and avoided it.

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled, frustrated. "You call yourself Uchiha Sasuke with that? Stop acting like an idiot! Get serious!"

"Yeah! Where's that overconfident Uchiha pride?" Ryoko yelled, "If there was anytime for you to show off like you usually do – now's the time!"

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto and Ryoko's with tired eyes.

"You don't have time to look the other way!" Yoroi yelled, charging towards Sasuke. As he came closer still didn't move until the last moment where he began to dodge all of Yoroi's punches. A smirk came to his face. With an amazing speed, the Uchiha ducked and kicked Yoroi's jaw, sending him flying upwards. Everyone's eyes widen when they saw that familiar move. That's Lee's move! Lee's and Gai's mouths dropped as they also realized that.

Sasuke appeared below Yoroi while this one was in the air.

"From here on out, it's all original, though." Sasuke said, pressing two fingers on Yoroi's back. "This is the end."

Sasuke was about to strike when the mark on his neck started to glow. But due to self control the mark slowly started to retreat until there were only the three black commas on Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha smirked. He tried to kick Yoroi's left side, but Kabuto's teammate blocked it with his arm. Then surprising everyone, Sasuke raised his right fist and punched Yoroi's jaw. The ninja started falling upside down, but Sasuke's attack wasn't over yet. He kicked Yoroi's chest with full strength.

"Lion's Barrage!" Sasuke yelled.

The force of the attack sent the Uchiha backwards, landing on his chest. Yoroi let out a wince of pain and lay on the floor defeated. Sasuke slowly sat up breathing heavily and wiped blood from his mouth.

Hayate walked to Yoroi to check his conditions, even though there was no need for that. It was obvious who the winner was.

"I will stop this match now." The proctor stated. "The first match winner is Sasuke Uchiha. He passes the preliminary round."

"YATTA!" Naruto cheered with a huge grin plastered on his face.

Ryoko smiled, relieved. "Way to go, Uchiha!"

The boy was exhausted. Sasuke's eyelids started to close and he was about to fall backwards when a cloud of smoke appeared behind him. Sasuke ended up leaning against Kakashi-sensei's knee while the Jounin lazily pretended to read his perverted book.

"You did okay." Sensei complimented, causing Sasuke to smirk.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, laughing. "You won in such an idiotic way! You're all worn out, you idiot!"

I sniggered, "Not as flashy as you usually do it, but it was pretty awesome!"

The Uchiha sent them a weak glare, but soon turned to smirk again.

A group of medic-ninjas walked into the arena and took Yoroi in a stretcher. One of them walked towards Sasuke with a serious expression.

"Sasuke Uchiha, we'll give you the best treatment we can."

"This isn't your field." Kakashi-sensei stated calmly.

The medic sent him a confused look.

"I'll take him." Kakashi-sensei kneeled down and whispered something in Sasuke's ear.

Sasuke reluctantly got up and walked to the exit with Kakashi-sensei, putting a hand over where the mark was. Naruto frowned at this and turned to Ryoko.

"Ryoko, did you see some sort of weird wound on Sasuke's neck during the match?"

"I don't know." Ryoko said after a moment of hesitation.

Everyone's attention turned to the electric board, which started sorting the names again. Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei stopped walking for a moment to see who would be fighting next.

Everyone held their breath as the two fighters' names were displayed.


	15. Preliminaries: Part 2

**Okay! Everyone stop yelling at me!!! The new extra long chapter is here! The extraness of this chapter was inspired by Her Pain, His Heart, by Dreamer of a Thousand Memories. I read her latest chapter today and uh! Inspiration!! If you like Yu-gi-oh go read it!**

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Eh, not much to say this time, but my teeth are killing me after the trip to the dentist. High school sucks as usual, people in general suck, society suck, and i discovered that i hate hypocrites more than ever!

Thank you to those who keep pointing out that my chapters are repeating themselves, I honestly don't know how that's happening, but thank you for taking the time to point it out for me. ^.^ Extra long chapter for all of you! Three fights in a row!

Review shout outs: Priestess-of-Jashin, leogirl321, koko!jumbo, jennku, riku92, Emily, Shibo26, Ominous Blue, SasukeLuver, and chibiamu (your kind words really meant alot to me. ^^)

Those who messaged: Bloodshed Gal, Persiii, chibiamu. (Alot others but the messages got lost. You know who you are huggles for all of you!)

Song of my day - Code lyoko theme - A world without danger

* * *

They stared at Ryoko for a reaction since she currently had her back turned. She then noticed Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Hinata staring at her.

"What? What's everyone looking at?" She asked clueless.

Naruto turned her around to face the board.

Koneko Ryoko vs. Yamanaka Ino

"Hm. Well ain't that somethin'?" She joked.

"Ryoko."

Ryoko looked down to see Sasuke looking up at her with his trade mark smirk.

"Yeah, Uchiha?"

The Uchiha smirked. "Don't even think about losing."

She smirked back at him. "Since when do I lose?"

"Everyone but the two fighters, please leave the arena." Hayate commanded, eyeing Sasuke and Kakashi.

Kakashi-sensei nodded. He and Sasuke glanced at Ryoko one last time before walking towards the exit.

Naruto turned to Ryoko, "Are you worried?"

Ryoko stretched her arms a bit, "Nah. Uchiha can take care of himself and I can take care of myself. This match is going to be cake."

Kiba chuckled, "Heh heh, I smell a cat fight coming on."

Ryoko laughed as well as she jumped the rail to the arena to face Ino.

"Ryoko, you can do it!" Naruto said firmly, clenching his fists in excitement.

Lee nodded. "Ryoko is amazing! She will win for sure!"

Ino smirked, "Quite a fan club you've got up there. Sasuke's not enough for you?"

Ryoko smirked back, "Whatever, Ino. We all know that you're all talk and barely any action."

Hayate signed, "Round two...Begin."

Ryoko dashed towards Ino, aiming a kick to her face. The blonde ducked and tried to punch Ryoko, who also dodged. Ryoko tried a lower kick, but Ino jumped backwards to avoid it. Ryoko changed tactics and took out three kunai and threw them at Ino. The blonde easily caught one and used it to deflect the others. Ryoko ran towards Ino again.

"Ryoko! Why are you holding back?! You're so much better than this!" Naruto yelled.

"They're kunoichi after all." Neji said. "Their physical combat skills are lower than normal."

"NANI?" Ryoko yelled her eyes turning white in anger. She ignored Ino and jumped on the rail to get into Neji's face, "WHAT WAS THAT YOU POMPOUS GIRLY MAN?!

Naruto quickly held her back, preventing her from attacking Neji. "WE'LL SEE WHOSE SKILLS ARE LOWER AFTER I'M DONE WITH YOU!"

"It's not because they're female." Tenten said, also annoyed. "Those two are just soft on each other, just as Naruto said. Sex doesn't matter in a battle."

"Thank you!" Ryoko cried, getting out of Naruto's grip so she could get back to her fight.

Ino and Ryoko exchanged blows and blocks. Ino finally saw an opening and punched Ryoko's stomach. The kunoichi stopped moving for a minute, with a slightly hurtful face. Ino took advantage of the moment and raised a fist. However, in the middle of the way, she stopped. Ryoko eyes widened and the punch she had been aiming turned into a slap.

Ryoko turned to Ino with a surprised and pissed off look, as if she'd never expect the blonde to do that. Ino's gaze didn't soften.

Akki gave a low whistle, "Oohh, she shouldn't have done that."

Kankuro looked at her, "And why's that?"

Akki looked down at the two girls, "If there's one thing you shouldn't do to a girl…its slap her across the face. That's a big no-no. Honestly, how would you feel if someone smacked you across the face? If anything that blond girl just pushed herself into a corner."

Ryoko's expression hardened and she clenched her fists. Her eyes turned cat like and her gritted teeth sharpened slightly.

"Now that it's come to this, I have no intention of going easy on you." Ryoko declared.

"Uh-oh." Kiba said.

Naruto and Lee turned to him.

"Uh-oh? What do you mean by uh-oh?" Naruto asked him.

Kiba's eyes didn't leave Ryoko, "I saw that look she has before. Whenever Ryoko's on the verge of snapping her cat instincts kick in."

Naruto remained confused, "What are you talkin' about? Ryoko snaps on Sasuke all the time and even in the hottest of battles she doesn't look like that."

Kiba gulped, "This is a whole different level…her clan instincts are about to kick in."

Lee's eyes widen in realization, "Right, Ryoko comes from a clan like the Inuzuka…just as the Inuzuka clan inherit traits from dogs…Ryoko's clan, the Koneko clan, inherit traits from cats!"

Naruto scratched his head, "So…what? Ryoko's gonna need a flea bath?"

Kiba groaned, "Idiot! It means Ino is done for! No way can she stand up against Ryoko when she gets like this!"

(Please be aware that while these boys are talking the fight is going on and Ino is getting her butt handed to her of course.)

"It can't be so bad." Naruto insisted.

"She tore trees to shreds as if they were scratching posts." Kiba stated.

Lee and Naruto paused and watched Ryoko chase Ino around the arena. "Okay, so there may be a small problem."

"No kidding, genius."

"Nani?" Ino inquired, glaring at Ryoko after recovering from a nasty punch to the left side to her face.

"It's always Sasuke this and Sasuke that with you and Sakura!" Ryoko snapped. "You two are an embarrassment! Instead of fonding over boys you should be focusing on getting stronger! Think about it! Out of everyone on your team…You're the weakest! I'm also stronger than you." Ryoko added. "You're not even a rival!"

Ino sent her best death glare. "Ryoko! Do you know who you're talking to like that?! You homeless tramp!"

"Whoa, this has gone too far!" Naruto said, slightly amazed.

"No." Akki shook her head. "It hasn't gone far enough."

Without warning they launched towards each other with their fists raised. Their fists connected to each other at full power, making both kunoichi step slightly backwards.

Ryoko ran towards Ino again, making hand sings for the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Two clones appeared beside her and she gathered chakra on her feet, making her run faster. Ino's eyes widened at her speed as Ryoko punched her in the jaw. Ino rolled backwards.

"Fight me seriously, Ino! I'm only toying with you right now and I'm not even at my actual best!"

The blonde got to her feet with a smug smirk. "I'm glad to hear that. I'll go at you with everything I have as you requested."

The rivals glared at each other. They continued to fight for what seemed like hours on end, almost relying completely on Taijutsu. That was indeed a long fight. After Ryoko dodge the last of Ino's kicks, Ino freaked out.

"There's no way you're as strong as me!"

Ryoko smirked. "Not as strong as you….far stronger than you."

"There's no way a careless person like you, who spends much time in trees and running around like a lunatic is my equal!!"

Ryoko flinched, _'I don't spend time in trees or run around like a lunatic…'_

Ino took out a kunai. "Stop underestimating me!" Ino lifted the kunai to her ponytail and cut it. Everyone stared in awe and shock. Ino held the streaks of her hair tightly, eyes turning white in anger.

"SEE THAT?!" She threw the hair on the floor. "I DON'T NEED THIS!"

"Ino's lost it…" Shikamaru said shakily.

"I'm going to end this now by making you say 'I give up'!" Ino stated, starting to make hand seals.

Her teammates' eyes widened. "Is she-?"

Ino's hands stopped on one of the seals and she aimed to Ryoko.

Shikamaru's mouth dropped. "Just as I thought, that idiot's going to use the Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Ryoko's eyes widened. "Is she freaking nuts?"

Naruto looked confused. "Why? What's so bad about this jutsu?"

"I understand that you're in a hurry, but that's useless." Ryoko said. "First, the mind energy can only move in a straight line and moves slowly. Second, if the mind energy misses the opponent, it won't return to the user for few minutes. In addition to that, during that time, the user's body will become like a doll and not move at all."

"And that's what's so bad about this jutsu." Lee told Naruto.

"So what?!" Ino yelled. "You won't know until I actually try!"

Ryoko raised an eyebrow, "It's the end if you miss, you understand?"

Ino ignored her. "Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Ryoko jumped out of the way and Ino fell to her knees. Everyone stared at them in anticipation, not knowing which one was who.

Ryoko chuckled. "Nice try… Ino."

Naruto and Lee beamed.

Ryoko smirked and was about to walk towards Ino when something pulled her back. She looked down to see Ino's hair streaks glowing blue and wrapped around her legs. She gasped.

"You've fallen into my trap." Ino said, raising her head. "I've finally caught you. It's just as you guessed. I was just pretending when I formed these seals so that I could lure you into this trap. It's a special rope made by running chakra through my hair."

Ryoko tried to move, but the ropes had definitely trapped her.

"Now that I know you won't be going anywhere…Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Everyone's mouths fell. Ryoko's expression darkened and she lowered her head. Ino dropped her arms and head.

"Too bad…" Naruto smiled. "…Ryoko." And the smile faded away.

Ino inside Ryoko's body, held her hand up.

Hayate glanced at her with curiosity. Ino/Ryoko spoke up.

"I, Ryoko Koneko, will giv-"

"NO!" Naruto yelled, leaning forward on the railings. "You've come a long way to get here! It's going to be a disgrace if you lose to this Sasuke-obsessed freak!"

Lee joined in as well, "Don't let her win, Ryoko!"

Ino/Ryoko smirked for a moment and then she stiffened. Her body started trembling and she brought her hands up to her head.

"There's no way I'm going to give up!"

"What happened to Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

She made a release seal, causing Ino's mind to return back to her body. Ryoko fell to her knees, panting heavily. Ino looked worn out as well.

"You have two minds?" Ino asked breathlessly. "There was something else inside your mind…who are you?!"

"...I'm Ryoko Koneko." She replied simply.

The two kunoichi slowly got to their feet, both of them physically exhausted. They dashed towards each other, preparing a punch. They hit. Each punch hit the other's cheek. Their headband fell from their foreheads. The two girls fell on the floor as well, blood dripping from their mouths. They attempted to get up, but ended up falling again.

Everyone watched them with wide eyes. None of them moved.

"Both are unable to..." Hayate stopped when he saw Ryoko climbing to her feet. When she stood strongly on her feet, Hayate called the match, "The winner is Ryoko Koneko."

After he had announced her name Ryoko collapsed again. Kakashi-sensei and Asuma jumped on the arena to pick their students and brought them up to their team. They set them against the wall.

"Ryoko!" Naruto and Lee yelled in concern as they gathered behind the two Jounin.

"Ino!" Shikamaru and Choji yelled.

"Are they okay?" Naruto asked hurriedly.

Kakashi-sensei put a finger on his lips and made a "shh" sound. The girls were sleeping. It was hard to imagine they could sleep so peacefully after such an intense fight. But it was way better that way.

"They don't even require medical treatment." Asuma said. "They'll wake up in a bit."

* * *

"Misumi Tsurugi vs. Kankuro." Hayate announced.

Kankuro and Kabuto's other strange teammate walking down to the arena. They stood in the middle of the field facing each other.

"I must warn you. Once my move gets a hold of you, it's over." Misumi said in a threatening tone. "Give up and I'll finish this quickly anyway."

"Then..." Kankuro took the bundle out of his back with a smirk. "I'll finish the match quickly too."

They glared at each other. Hayate nodded. "Begin the third match."

Misumi darted towards Kankuro. "Victory goes to the swiftest!"

He aimed a punch to Kabuto, but the Suna Genin easily blocked it. Then something really weird happened. Misumi's member started to stretch like rubber and clenched around Kankuro's whole body, causing him to drop his bundle. Misumi's legs around his legs, arms around arms and neck, and Misumi's head stood behind Kankuro's.

Naruto's eyes goggled in excitement. "WOW! What's with his body?!"

"I don't know what kind of tool you use…" Misumi said as Kankuro tried uselessly to escape from his grip. "…But there's no point to it if I immobilize your body like this. I can break your neck, as well. Hurry up and give up."

The Suna ninja smirked. "No."

"Do you want to die?" Misumi asked, tightening his grip.

"Idiot. You're the one who's going to die."

There was a loud crack. Everyone's eyes widened drastically as they saw Kankuro's head dangling down on his neck.

"His neck is broken!" Lee exclaimed horrified.

Gaara's team was the only ones not affected at all.

"How stupid." He scowled.

Suddenly, Kankuro's face started to crack. Pieces of his skin fell on the ground.

Kankuro's head spun to face Misumi and we could see his face clearly now. It was a puppet!

"Nani?" Misumi asked with wide eyes.

"Now it's my turn." Kankuro's puppet spoke.

The rest of his skin peeled off and his arms became brown, wooden and thin as they clenched around Misumi's body. A hand came out of the fallen bundle and started to take off the bandages. Kankuro was kneeled on the floor holding the bandages with one hand while the other glowed blue with his chakra. Blue strings were coming out of his hands, controlling the puppet. The puppet's grip on Misumi tightened. The man struggled, but it was useless.

"You can't become more elastic if I break your bones." Kankuro mocked.

Unable to resist anymore, Misumi fell on the floor with the puppet on the top of him. Hayate coughed before announcing the winner. "Since his opponent is unable to fight, the winner is Kankuro."

Naruto scowled. "Two against one is unfair! Is that allowed? Is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Sensei raised an eyebrow at him. "It's not unfair. It's just a doll after all."

"He controlled the marionette with his chakra." Lee told the blond. "It's a mere tool, like a shuriken."

"That's basically the same as us using Kage Bunshin." Ryoko said, watching as Kankuro walked over to his team.

Everyone jumped in shock and jumped away from her. "AAAHHH!"

Ryoko gave them an annoyed look, "Hey, what's with that reaction?"

"When did you wake up? We thought you were still sleeping."

"Well, I woke up when Kankuro came out of the bandages."

Gaara sent him a death glare that could freeze fire.

Akki looked at Gaara, "Hey, you okay?"

Gaara didn't look at her, "…I'm fine…"

"Geez, everyone here is such a weirdo." Naruto said as the board sorted out more names.

"And you're not?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"That's right!" Naruto said stubbornly.

"Being weird is cool. Being normal is too boring." Ryoko said with a grin. "So, what did I miss?"

"Shino and that Zaku guy fought and it was amazing!" Naruto yelled, shaking his arms. "His arms exploded!"

"Oh man, I can't believe I missed that!" Ryoko cried putting her hands over her eyes, "Ah, well, who's fighting next?

More names scrolled through the screen and stopped after a few seconds.

Everyone turned to see the two new names displayed on the board.

"Temari vs. Tenten."

Tenten and Temari faced each other, eyes filled with determination.

"Do your best, Tenten!" Lee cheered, waving his arms frenetically.

"Use your youth power!" Gai chorused.

"There's no limit in the springtime of your life!"

"Show your spirit!"

"Fifth match, Tenten and Temari, step up." Hayate said, and the kunoichi did as they were told to. "Begin."

Tenten jumped backwards, wanting to see Temari's kind of attack first. None of them moved.

Hayate glanced confusedly at each one of them. "What's wrong? Please, begin."

They stood still.

Temari smirked. "You want to observe what I do? This is just a warning, but if I start attacking you're going to be finished in a second. You're not skilled enough to see how I'll attack. Stop trying to look good." She pointed at her chest. "I don't mind, come on."

"You sure seem confident." Tenten said. "Then, I'll go without hesitation."

Tenten jumped and threw four shuriken at Temari. The blonde move slightly and the next second the shuriken landed on the floor in front of her.

"I missed?" Tenten gasped. "That can't be!"

"What's wrong?" Temari mocked. "Was that attack just to test me? Or did you shrink up in fear and can no longer aim?" Tenten glared at her. "I thought I would have more fun, but it seems that I can't expect much from you."

"That can't be!" Lee exclaimed. "Tenten's attack missed?"

"That's impossible." Gai calmly stated. "Tenten is able to hit a mark a hundred times in a hundred tries."

"There's no way she can miss." Neji agreed.

"Yes." Gai nodded. "She didn't miss. She was forced to miss."

Beside Naruto, Shikamaru sighed.

"How unsightly. Suna wins again."

"We don't know that yet!" Naruto snapped angrily.

"I do."

"Nani? How do you know? Explain it to me so that I'll understand!"

Shikamaru sighed again. "Idiot. I'm not going to do such a troublesome thing."

"If Shikamaru says so, then that's what will happen." Choji said.

Temari lifted a hand to the fan on her back. As soon as she saw it, Tenten started to run in circles around the Suna girl. She then jumped and stood upside down in the air, spinning around.

"How about this!?"

Tenten pulled out a summoning scroll, opened it and spun around inside of it. She threw several sharp weapons, such as senbon, kunai and scythes, at Temari, who didn't attempt to move. The blonde merely moved her fan slightly and all the weapons fell harmlessly on the floor.

Tenten landed, staring at Temari with wide eyes.

"Nani? My weapons… Is that a trick of that fan?"

Temari had taken the fan off her back. It was slightly open, revealing a purple dot.

"This is the first moon." She said. "There's two more. When you see three moon, you're going to lose."

"Tenten, don't let the enemy make you go at her pace! Stay calm! Stay calm!" Lee yelled.

"Is it possible for her to stay calm with him yelling like this?" Naruto whispered to Ryoko.

Tenten clenched her teeth and took out two tiny red scrolls. There were gasps from her teammates and sensei.

"She's going to use 'it' already?" Gai asked, surprised.

"What's she planning to do with those scrolls?" Naruto asked no one in particular. Nobody answered him. (figures)

Tenten put the scrolls on the floor as Temari chuckled.

"No matter what you try, it's useless."

Tenten said nothing and made some hand signs, looking extremely concentrated.

"Rising Twin Dragons!" She yelled.

A huge cloud of smoke took over the arena; no one could see the fighters anymore. Two smoke dragons rose up from the cloud, circling each other. The smoke dragons suddenly vanished, revealing the two scrolls opened. Tenten jumped in the middle of them, started summoning lots of weapons and throwing them at Temari.

The Suna girl didn't move, but her smirk widened. "Even if you increase the numbers, it's the same."

Temari opened her fan a bit more, revealing a second purple dot. She swung it and created a strong gust of wind, sending the blades flying away. Tenten glared at her as she landed.

"I'm not done!"

She jumped in the air again and chakra strings came out of her fingers. The strings were connected with the weapons and, as she moved, the blades lifted. They were all aimed at Temari again. With a victorious smirk, Tenten threw them.

Temari did the same as the last time, sending Tenten backwards along with the weapons. Now the three dots were visible in her fan.

"Third moon."

Temari put her fan in front of her and, as she swung it, it started to disappear. The blonde disappeared along with the fan. Tenten's eyes widened as she looked around for her enemy.

"Here." Temari's voice called from above.

Tenten turned around to see Temari hovering in the air on her fan. (Death from above!!)

Temari smirked and jumped on the ground again with her fan. She took a stance for her first offensive blow.

"Whirlwind Attack!"

A powerful whirlwind came towards Tenten and trapped her inside of it. The wind was as sharp as a kunai, leaving Tenten with several cuts on her skin.

"Tenten fought well, but she can't escape that tornado." Neji said.

The battle was over. Temari closed her fan and leaned it forward as Tenten started to fall, so Tenten fell on her back right on it.

(Now honestly…that looked like it hurt a whole lot!)

Naruto's mouth dropped as they watched the girl coughing blood. Temari sighed.

"That was boring. Very boring."

"It was just as Shikamaru said. Suna wins." Choji said.

"Fifth match winner, Temari." Hayate announced.

Temari smirked and threw Tenten away. The floor was full of her sharp weapons, so anywhere she landed she would have serious injuries. Luckily Lee caught her in time with his amazing speed.

Lee glared evilly at Temari, whose smirk widened.

"Nice catch."

"Why did you do that?" Lee questioned, raising his fist at her. "Is that something you should to do someone who fought her hardest?"

"Shut up. Take that piece of garbage and leave."

Lee clenched his teeth and dashed towards Temari.

"Stop, Lee!" Neji yelled, even though he knew his teammate wouldn't listen to him.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

Lee tried to kick the Suna girl with this move, but she easily blocked it with her fan.

"You're just how you look; you're stupid." Temari said.

Lee growled. "What did you say?"

"Stop, Lee!" Gai said, appearing behind him.

Temari scoffed.

"Temari, come back here." Gaara said in his usual cold tone. "You won. Stop dealing with that weird guy and his guardian."

"Nani?" Lee asked, glaring at Gaara.

Gai put a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Just let it go, Lee." He smirked. "Gentlemen of Suna, if I may warn you about one thing? He's strong. You'd better be prepared for it."

Sending a last glare to Suna shinobi, Lee and Gai walked back to the balcony.

Everyone waited for the next fighters to be announced.


	16. Preliminaries: Part 3

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Having a lovely short spring break shame that its almost over. I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed and favorited and alerted. I'll try to list them all..........i know i can't. eh you all know who you are so whoever you are..............THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! MAYBE IN THE END OF THE SERIES THERE WILL BE A THANK YOU CHAPTER. So if you have reviewed, favorited, alerted my story and want a special place in the credits, please message me. ^.^ KUDOS! Sorry, something went wrong.  
A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.

Song of my day....... Soldier A - Vic mignona wrote it (Find it on You tube and that song will be in your head forever. No lie)

* * *

"Alright, hurry, hurry, me next, please!" Naruto cried, clenching his fists in excitement. Finally the screen stopped at two names. By Naruto's disappointed face it wasn't him.

"So? Who's fighting?" Lee asked.

"Ne. It's me." Shikamaru said in a bored tone. "That's such a drag."

"Against Tsuchi Kin." Ryoko read.

Shikamaru and the Oto girl they had fought in the Forest of Death walked down to the arena.

Ino seemed yelled at the top of her lungs. "SHIKAMARU! DON'T LOSE! SHOW US THAT YOU'RE A MAN! GO, SHIKAMARU! WIN!"

Shikamaru glared in annoyance especially when Kin stepped closer. Sexist as he was, Shikamaru was probably thinking that it was too troublesome for him to fight a girl.

"Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin." Hayate informed. "Begin."

Shikamaru quickly made the Shadow Possession Jutsu hand signs.

Kin chuckled. "You can only use one thing, like an idiot?"

"Shut up!" Shikamaru snapped with a tiny anger mark on his forehead. "Shadow Possession Justu!" His shadow stretched and went towards Kin.

"As long as I look at your shadow movement, I have nothing to fear from that jutsu!" Kin said, jumping out of the shadow's way.

She quickly threw two senbon at Shikamaru, who ducked. The senbon kept making an annoying jingling sound and they soon figured out why.

"Bells?" Shikamaru asked as he noticed the small bells tied on the senbon. "That sure is a classic trick. Next, you're going to throw a senbon with a bell and one without a bell at once, right?" Shikamaru continued. "If I react to the sound of the bell and dodge it, I'm not going to notice the senbon with no bell and it'll hit me. Right?"

"You talk too much!" Kin shouted, throwing more senbon at him.

Shikamaru dodged them easily. The jingling sound echoed in our ears again and Shikamaru turned back to see both of the senbon had bells on them.

"Behind?"

Then he noticed there were two strings tied on the bells and Kin was pulling them. His eyes widened. "Shoot!"

"Too late!" Kin yelled, throwing three senbon at his arm.

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled as Shikamaru fell backwards on the floor.

"He got hit directly." Naruto said.

"No, look closely." Lee said.

Shikamaru got up and pulled the senbon out. "I dodged a critical hit. Now it's my turn."

"I won't let you!" Kin said, pulling the string.

The bells rang again and Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly. He seemed confused. Shikamaru fell on his knees with a disbelieving look. _'She's an Oto shinobi, of course her attacks have something to do with the sound. The bells' ringing must be letting me or something.' _Shikamaru covered his ears with his hands.

Kin shook her head with a victorious smirk."That's useless. You can't shut out my bell's sound with that."

Shikamaru looked around confusedly for a moment when he saw more than one Kin.

"Which one is the real one?" _'She's using a Genjutsu.'_

"You can't move at all, uh?" Kin taunted. "You don't even know where to stretch your only hope, your shadow." She lifted three senbon. "Now, I'll tenderize you." She threw the senbon, causing Shikamaru to fall on the floor again. "Now I'll throw five. Next, seven. I'll continue until you look like a hedgehog."

Shikamaru growled. "You said you would end the match quickly."

"I see. You're in so much pain that you want to be relieved of it quickly." She took out more senbon. "Then I'll finish you off with this. It's the end." Kin started to lower her hand to throw, but suddenly stopped.

Shikamaru got to his feet with a huge smirk. "My Shadow Possession Justus finally succeeded."

"What are you talking about?!" Kin yelled, frustrated. "You shadow is nowhere near me!"

"You still haven't noticed?" Shikamaru mocked.

Kin's eyes widened in realization.

"Just as you assumed there's no way a string at that height will make a shadow. I can stretch and shrink my shadow." The shadow widened as Shikamaru spoke. "I thinned and stretched out my shadow to make it look like the shadow of the string. Then I attached it to you."

He raised his arms, causing Kin to do the same. The girl glared at him.

"But how are you going to win now? All I'm going to do is move the same way you move."

"Shut up and just watch." Shikamaru snapped.

He opened his pocket and took out a shuriken. Kin, still controlled by his shadow, did the same. Her eyes widened.

"Are you stupid?! If you attack like that you're going to get hurt too!"

Shikamaru smirked. "I know."

With that they threw the shuriken. One went towards Kin the other towards Shikamaru. If the weapons hit them it would be a direct hit on their faces and they might even die. Everyone else knew that which caused the tension to grow thicker.

When the shuriken was only a few inches from hitting them, Shikamaru leaned backwards, avoiding the blow. Kin leaned backwards as well, hitting her head painfully on the wall behind her. Knocking her out cold.

"One down." Shikamaru said, flipping backwards. "Ninjas need to grasp the landscape and situation, then fight. Even if we move the same time, our distances to the walls are different. I just used the shuriken to get your attention away from the wall."

"Shikamaru, she's unconscious. That means she can't hear your speech, genius. But thanks for telling us anyway" Ryoko said.

Shikamaru's eyes twitched in annoyance and he sent her a small glare.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru." Hayate announced.

"He looks dull, but that was kind of cool." Naruto mumbled.

"I'm the next, I'm the next." Lee said, clenching his fist determinately.

Akki pouted, "Hey, everyone on my team got to fight, when do I get to fight?"

Baki reprimanded her, "Keep in mind that this isn't a game."

Akki glared at him in the corner of her eye, "I never said this was a game. I just know that if I don't get to fight someone strong I'm gonna be ticked."

"Akki…calm down…" Gaara said.

Akki closed her eyes calmly, "Yes, Gaara."

Kankuro, Temari, and Baki looked at each other, _'Unbelievable.' _

The names scrolled through the board again until only two remained.

"MY TURN! MY TURN! MY TURN!" Naruto yelled, jumping in happiness.

"That's awesome!" Ryoko said.

"Yeah, we got lucky!" Kiba yelled from the other side of the balcony. "We can win against him for sure, Akamaru!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Do your best, Naruto!" Ryoko said giving Naruto an encouraging pat on the back.

"Just leave it to me!"

Naruto and Kiba walked down to the arena. Both of them had confident smirks on their faces.

"Uzumaki Naruto against Inuzuka Kiba." Hayate declared.

"I'm tired from all that waiting!" Naruto said eagerly. "It's time to show off my moves!" Kiba's eyes turned as white as Akamaru's fur and he pointed an accusing finger at Naruto.

"That's my line! Drawing you as my opponent means I've already won! Right, Akamaru?" Akamaru barked in agreement. An anger mark appeared on Naruto's head.

"Keep dreaming! You can't win against me!"

"Why, you-!"

"Just start this already!" Ryoko yelled in a pleading tone.

Kiba smirked and put Akamaru on the floor.

Naruto's eyes widened and he pointed at the dog.

"Hey! Don't bring puppies in here! He's going to interfere with the battle!"

"Idiot, Akamaru's going to fight too." Kiba said.

"Hey, hey, is that okay?" Naruto asked Hayate.

The Chuunin nodded. "Yes. Animals are treated as weapons. It isn't a problem."

Naruto looked unsettled for a minute, before putting on another smirk. "Oh, well! It's a good handicap."

"Acting tough, ne?" Kiba taunted. He turned to Akamaru. "Akamaru, don't do anything. I'll do this alone."

"Can they please start hitting each other?" Akki practically begged.

"Very well." Hayate said. "Begin."

Kiba kneeled down and performed the hand signs for his favorite jutsu.

"Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry! Down On All Fours Jutsu!!"

Chakra began to spread through his members and Kiba put his hands on the floor. His hand nails slowly turned into claws and his teeth into fangs. Kiba ran to Naruto on all fours. All everyone saw was a gray blur before Kiba's elbow collided against Naruto's stomach, sending him flying backwards.

Kiba got to his feet and his body turned back to normal. "He won't be waking up for a while, Mr. Examiner." Kiba said with a smug smirk.

Kiba turned back and started to walk away. Right when Naruto started to get up. Everyone's eyes widened at them. There was a fillet of blood falling from Naruto's mouth, showing everyone that the blow had been strong. But that didn't prevent him from smirking.

"Don't underestimate me!"

"Get him, Naruto!" Ryoko yelled as almost everyone else smiled.

"You're bleeding, so stop pretending to be cool!" Kiba yelled.

"I went easy on you!" Naruto declared his smirk widening. "Just so I could see how strong you were."

Kiba tensioned slightly.

"Why don't you stop acting tough and use your dog or whatever?"

Kiba gritted his teeth, "You're going to regret that… Let's go, Akamaru!"

Kiba and Akamaru dashed towards Naruto. Kiba took three small smoke bombs out of his pocket. He threw them on Naruto's feet so the blond couldn't see anything. Kiba now had the advantage.

Everyone stared expectantly at the cloud of smoke until Kiba jumped out of it. Now only Akamaru and Naruto were inside.

The smoke cleared revealing Naruto fallen on the floor and Akamaru wagging his tail beside him. Kiba grinned.

"All right, way to go!" Akamaru barked happily and ran towards his owner. "Good job, Aka-" He stopped in the middle of the sentence when Akamaru bit his arm.

Everyone eyes widened. Akamaru was a loyal only to Kiba. He would never bite him. "You fell for it!" Naruto's voice echoed from Akamaru's body.

A cloud of smoke engulfed the dog and Naruto took his place. Everyone's eyes widened even more when they saw it was Naruto who was biting Kiba's arm.

"You transformed!" Kiba exclaimed. "Ouch, let go!"

He shoved Naruto away. The blonde's face turned purple and his eyes white as he choked.

"Gross, you taste like a dog!" Naruto accused.

Then Kiba realized something was missing.

"Where's Akamaru?" He asked, looking desperately around.

"Over here." Another Naruto said holding Akamaru by his paws with a satisfied grin. Kiba couldn't help but gasp. "Akamaru! Damn it…Looks like you've gotten a little stronger." Kiba admitted reluctantly. "But it's over. I'm going to get serious now."

"Really? But you can never defeat me!" Naruto mocked.

Kiba closed his eyes and took a deep and supposedly calming breath. He smirked and searched for something on his kunai pocket, opening his eyes again.

"Naruto. You're going to give me Akamaru back." He stated.

Kiba took his hand out of his pocket and threw a small black pill to Akamaru. The dog opened his mouth and swallowed the pill.

A few seconds after Akamaru had swallowed the pill, his fur started to grow thicker and become red. His fangs became sharper as he howled. Akamaru kicked Naruto's clone with his back paws and jumped out of his grip. The clone turned into smoke and the real Naruto stared at the dog in disbelief.

"What the–? What did you give to him?"

Kiba's smirk widened and he swallowed a pill like the one he gave to Akamaru.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" He made a hand sign and Akamaru jumped on the top of him.

(Okay, in the manga in front of me, Akamaru is barking and in ( ) it says Ninja art of Human mimicry….AKAMARU CAN TALK!!!)

"Nina Art of Beast Mimicry Ninja Man-Beast Clone!"

A small cloud of smoke engulfed Akamaru and he turned into a clone of Kiba. He and the real Kiba had a wild appearance and barred his teeth at Naruto like wolves.

Everyone leaned forward clenching the railings. _'This is getting bad…'_

"He used some weird drug!" Naruto complained. "Is this allowed?"

"Yes." Hayate replied emotionlessly. "Food pills are considered tools."

"You always say that!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the proctor.

"Now this match will end." Kiba said.

He and Akamaru jumped towards Naruto, one on the left and the other on the right. Their claws were dangerously raised. Naruto's mouth dropped, but he didn't move.

"Naruto, run!" Ryoko yelled tightening her grip on the railings.

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the attack. Kiba and Akamaru hit the floor, creating a cloud of smoke. It had barely cleared when they launched towards Naruto again. Naruto dodged Kiba's and Akamaru's punches with difficulty. One of Kiba's attacks would've sliced Naruto's head off if he hadn't ducked. The blond jumped high to avoid another hit. Kiba smirked.

Kiba and Akamaru dashed towards him again. They spun in an incredible speed, practically turning into two cyclones.

"Take this! Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu! Fang over Fang!"

"Naruto!!" Ryoko screamed when he didn't avoid the attack.

The attack hit Naruto at full force sending him flying upwards. Everyone's eyes widened as he fell painfully on the floor. His forehead and mouth were bleeding madly and he seemed unable to move.

Hinata let out a small exclamation and turned her head to the other side, closing her eyes.

"That's our difference in skill." Kiba said, getting to his feet.

"I'm…" Naruto muttered, moving his fingers slightly. "… Going to become a Hokage… I can't lose here…"

Kiba laughed. "You? Hokage? When you're weaker than me? I'll become Hokage for you!"

"Be quiet, Kiba!" Ryoko yelled, causing all the stares to turn to her. "You haven't seen Naruto's full power yet! There's no way he's going to lose now! He's faced stronger guys than you!"

Kiba's eyes widened at her.

"That's right…" Naruto whispered, slowly getting to his feet.

Kiba's eyes widened more.

"I won't lose here." He lifted his head to face Kiba. "If you compete with me for the title of Hokage, you're going to become the underdog."

Kiba glared at him for a second before putting on a fake grin. He didn't want to lose his cool, especially to Naruto.

"Geez, you sure are a persistent guy!"

Naruto smirked.

"Fine. Then I'll make sure you can never stand up! Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba and Akamaru launched towards Naruto prepared to use Fang over Fang one more time.

"The same thing won't work on me more than once!" Naruto declared.

Kiba and Akamaru turned into the two cyclones again and Naruto jumped to avoid the attack. His landing wasn't very good giving Kiba enough time to strike again. He pulled out some smoke bombs and threw them at Naruto. The brunette and Akamaru didn't waste time.

"Fang over Fang!!"

Everyone waited with anticipation. No one could see what was happening, but they could surely hear the sounds of the attacks.

Finally Kiba and Akamaru jumped out of the smoke. It cleared and Naruto was kneeling on the floor with a grin.

"You seem to be losing your confidence." Kiba taunted.

"I'm as confident as ever!" Naruto yelled, closing his hands into fists. "I can still manage even if your numbers increase by three to four times!"

"You just don't shut up, do you? Let's end this with the next move."

They did the same thing as before, throwing the smoke bombs before using Fang over Fang. Naruto had a plan.

This time none of them came out before the smoke cleared. When it vanished, it revealed three identical Kiba's. Now Kiba and Akamaru won't know who is who, but Naruto can attack whoever he wants! Hinata smiled, Lee clenched his fists excitedly with flames in his eyes and the others look surprised. Kiba on other hand didn't seem affected.

"I underestimated you before and it took a while to notice, but your Transformation Jutsu won't work on me anymore." He closed his fist and punched the Kiba on the right, sending him rolling backwards. "I can smell you. Don't underestimate our senses of smell, Naruto."

The fallen Kiba was engulfed by a cloud of smoke. Everyone's eyes widened as they saw it wasn't Naruto standing in the smoke. It was Akamaru!

"No way! Kiba would never mistake Akamaru's smell for Naruto's!" Lee said.

"He must've transformed into Akamaru to fool Kiba." Ryoko whispered.

Kiba stared at Akamaru in disbelief. He gritted his teeth and turned to the other Kiba behind him with a furious rage.

"Then you are Naruto?!"

This Kiba also turned into a cloud of smoke and Akamaru came out of it.

Kiba's mouth dropped. "What!?"

The first 'Akamaru' was involved by a cloud of smoke and turned into Naruto. The blond kicked Kiba's jaw at full strength.

"He did it!" Ryoko cheered.

"Naruto… You're amazing!" Hinata whispers.

Kiba fell beside Akamaru and wiped some blood of his mouth. He looked at his companion and clenched his fists in realization.

"Before you start throwing those techniques around you should really think about the consequences otherwise they'll just be used against you, Fool!" Naruto shouted, giving Kiba a thumbs down.

Kiba glared at Naruto and bit his own hand so it started to bleed.

"Kiba's calmed down…" Kakashi said.

"That's not good is it?" Ryoko said even though she knew the answer.

Kiba took out six shuriken. He looked more dangerous now that he was calm. Naruto, however, didn't look frightened.

"So you're finally serious, Kiba?" He asked. "Then… I'll finish this with a new move I've been saving for you!"

"When did he make a new move?" Kakashi-sensei asked confused.

"He still had a new move hidden up his sleeve? He's good!" Lee exclaimed.

"Don't forget we're talking about the number one unpredictable ninja." Ryoko said proudly. "He could be bluffing for all we know."

"New move? You're just bluffing." Kiba said.

"We'll see if it's a bluff or not." Naruto said confidently. He made a fake hand seal. "Let's go!"

"I don't know what your new move is-" Kiba started, dashing towards Naruto. "-but all I have to do is stopping you from executing it!"

He threw the shuriken and Naruto had to jump repeatedly to dodge them.

"Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry! Down on all fours Jutsu!" Kiba yelled, running on all fours to Naruto. His speed increased and he shoved Naruto backwards. The next second he was beside the blond, punching his face. Naruto fell on the floor and stood motionless for a minute.

"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed worriedly.

"On your feet Naruto!" Ryoko shouted, trying not to sound too worried.

"Damn it…" Naruto mumbled, getting to his feet. "I don't have time to mold up chakra like this."

Kiba ran towards Naruto and nailed his claws into Naruto's arm. To their surprise, the blond smirked. He grabbed Kiba's arms and threw him away, almost hitting the wall.

"I'll compliment on your spirit!" Kiba said, getting up.

"I'll rip out my new move at any time!" Naruto yelled back, making the same seal he did before.

"I won't let you!"

Kiba charged towards Naruto at full speed. He positioned himself behind the blond, ready to attack. Naruto didn't even move. Instead, he did something else...

*Poot*

"He…" Lee started.

Ryoko covered her face in shame, "Farted…"

"AAARGH!" Kiba yell holding his nose, disgusted. By the looks on everyone else's face, he wasn't the only one.

"I strained too much!" Naruto said not really all that embarrassed. "But this is the good part of my new move! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four replications appeared next to him. The clones surrounded Kiba. "All right, I'll get you for what you did to me with this move!"

The first clone jumped forward and placed a punch on Kiba's cheek.

"Na!" He cried.

The real Naruto stepped on the clone's back and tucked-rolled above Kiba. The three other clones kicked Kiba back, sending him upwards.

"RU! TO!"

The real Naruto jumped off one of his clones back to get more air and kicked Kiba's face with all his strength sending it mercilessly to the floor.

"Uzumaki Barrage!"

Naruto's clones vanished and Kiba coughed blood. The match was over.

Hayate kneeled beside Kiba to check on him. He coughed a few more times before getting up again.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

"AWESOME, NARUTO, YOU DID IT!" Ryoko and Lee yelled at the top of our lungs. Hinata blushed and smiled widely.

"Naruto beat Kiba!" Shikamaru exclaimed, smiling.

"No one expected it." Chouji said.

Naruto ran up to the balconies triumphantly.

"Easy, easy!" He cried in a sing-song voice.

Ryoko ran to him and gave him a high five. "You were awesome, believe it!"

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried from behind them.

Naruto turned to her with a confused look. Ryoko gave her a reassuring smile. Hinata was blushing like mad, holding a small brown container.

"Hinata? Did you say something?" Naruto asked.

Hinata played nervously with her fingers.

"Yeah, she did." Ryoko answered, pushing Naruto slightly towards her.

Hinata nodded and handed him the pot.

"What's this?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"It's an ointment." She said in a low voice.

"Why me?"

I glared at him and roughly nudged his ribs. Hinata was already being brave for talking to him and Naruto was not spoiling the moment!

"Just take it." Ryoko said, "Do-it-or-you're-dead."

Naruto quickly recognized it and took the brown pot from Hinata's hand.

"Thanks! You're a good person, Hinata!" Hinata's face became even redder.

"This medicine works so well!" Naruto cheered, applying some of Hinata's ointment on his wounds. They were recovering incredibly fast. "You should use it, Ryoko!"

"Nah, I'm good."

The medical team had already left with Kiba and everyone was waiting for the next match to be decided. There were only Hinata, Gaara, Lee, Neji, Choji, Dosu, Kabuto, and Akki. The battles would be tough from now on.

The names scrolled through the screen once again and two were displayed.


	17. End of Preliminaries: Part 4

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry the plot is still missing so LadyAmazon went on an epic quest to find it . A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation**, LadyAmazon is unavailable. So another team of trained monkeys will handle this chapter hence the reason for the late update.**

(Reviewers, Favoriters, Alerters, and Messengers:)

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Song of my day............. Utada Hikaru - Easy Breezy

* * *

"Hinata Hyuuga against Neji Hyuuga." Ryoko read.

Hinata looked terrified as she read the names. Ryoko placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll be okay. You can beat him Hinata. And if you can't we'll step in before it gets too bad"

Hinata nodded meekly. Some of the Genin's heart sank as she walked down to the arena.

Neji and Hinata stepped closer to each other. His glare at her intensified at each second while she could barely stand looking at him.

"I didn't think that I would be fighting you, Hinata." Neji started.

"Nor I my brother…" Hinata whispered.

"Brother?! Those two are siblings?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Cousins." Lee corrected. "Neji's from the branch family and Hinata from the main family."

"Please, begin the match." Hayate said, turning my attention back to the fight.

None of the Hyuuga moved. I stared at them expectantly.

"Before we fight, let me warn you about one thing, Hinata." Neji started. "Give up. You're not suited to become a ninja."

Hinata gasped.

"You're too kind. You seek harmony and avoid trouble. And you just go along and follow someone else's idea. You have no self-confidence. That's why you thought it would be fine to remain as a Genin. But you cannot register for the Chunin Exams unless there are three people. You couldn't refuse the offers from your teammates. And the truth is that you're taking this exam unwillingly."

"You're wrong!" Hinata exclaimed in a weak voice. "You're wrong, I- I just… Wanted to change myself, so I…"

"Hinata. You are indeed a spoiled child from the main family. People cannot change. A failure is a failure. His personality and power will not change."

Naruto gritted his teeth.

"People cannot change, so that's why terms like 'elites' and 'failures' exist. People suffer due to their limits, and live. Just like how we can't change the fact that I'm from the branch family and you are from the main family. My Byakugan has seen many things. That's why I know. You're just trying to be tough. You are really thinking about how you want to leave this place right now."

"That's not true!" Hinata said, nervously clutching her coat with one hand. "I really want to…"

"Byakugan?"

Kakashi-sensei explain about the Hyuuga's kekkei genkai .

Neji made a seal and activated his Byakugan. Hinata stiffened as veins popped around her cousin's eyes. She shifted her eyes around the arena, looking terrified, and raised a hand in front of her. One of her fingers touched her lips.

"You can't fool my eyes." Neji's harsh voice echoed. "You moved your eyes to the top-left corner after you felt my pressure. After that, your eyes moved to the bottom right. This indicates you're imagining physical and mental pain. In other words, you predicted the outcome of this match from your past experiences. A prediction that says you'll lose." Hinata gasped.

"Your action of putting your arm in front of you shows that you want to put a wall between me and yourself to create some distance. It's an action that shows you don't want me to look through your true feelings. That is because what I said is all correct. You touching your own lips is an action to show that your mind is disturbed. It's a defensive instinct that tries to lower nervousness and uneasiness. In other words, you know already that you cannot change-"

"SHUT UP!"

All stares turned to Naruto. The older Hyuuga slowly turned to glare at us. Hinata's eyes widened in surprise as she also looked up.

"Stop talking about Hinata as if you know anything about her! She can and will change! Don't label people just like that, you idiot!" Naruto shouted. "Beat him up, Hinata!"

The shy girl just stared at him.

"Why don't you say something back?!"

"Don't be sorry for him just because he's your cousin!" Ryoko yelled.

Hinata watched them for a moment and lowered her head. Fortunately, their words had quite some effect in Hinata. When she lifted her head, her expression was different. She was serious, determined.

Neji also noticed that. And he didn't like it.

"So you're not going to give up? Don't blame me later on."

Hinata ignored him and closed her eyes. She made a couple familiar hand signs. "Byakugan!"

Naruto's eyes widened considerably as Hinata took a fighting stance. "Neji. Let us fight." Neji glared at her irritably and assumed a fighting stance like Hinata's.

"Very well."

"They're using the same Hyuuga style." Lee said.

"Hyuuga style?"

"Konoha's stronger Taijutsu style." Lee clenched his fists slightly. "Remember what I said before? The strongest Genin in Konoha is most likely in my team. That is Hyuuga Neji."

"Even so, I've never seen Hinata fight for real." Ryoko said calmly. "She may actually have a chance of winning."

Naruto nodded with a smile and they turned their attention back to the fight.

Hinata attacked first, much faster than anyone had ever seen her doing. Neji barely dodged it, probably also surprised by her speed. Both Hyuuga tried to hit each other, but they kept blocking. A small amount of chakra flew from each of their strikes. Seeing two Byakugan users fighting was really impressing.

Finally, Hinata saw an opening. She aimed a blow to Neji's chest, but he leaned back in time to avoid a direct hit.

"Did it hit?" Ryoko asked eagerly.

"No, it wasn't deep enough." Naruto said.

"It doesn't need to hit." Lee told them. "It hurts even if it's just a scratch."

"Nani?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"The Hyuuga has a special Taijutsu style that is passed on from generation to generation." Gai said, appearing behind us.

He explained the others about the internal damage of the Gentle Fist as Hinata and Neji circled each other, looking for another opening. Finding none, they dashed towards each other and restarted the close combat.

"You're doing great, Hinata!" Naruto yelled.

Hinata lifted her hand and tried to strike Neji's chest again. But this time the older Hyuuga was prepared, he also aimed for her chest. They attacked.

Both Hyuuga stopped after the attack as though they were paralyzed. It wasn't possible to tell which one had been hit.

"All right!" Naruto cheered, confident that Hinata had done the damage.

The seconds seemed to become hours as we waited to know the outcome of the attack. Hinata coughed blood. Neji's hand had hit her a little below her neck, while a finger from his other hand was pressured against her arm. Hinata's blood fell on Neji's hand.

"So that was the best the main family could do." He said emotionlessly.

"Nani?!" Naruto yelled. "But Hinata's attack hit him too!"

Hinata frowned and shoved Neji's arms away. She tried to get him out of guard, but it didn't work either. Neji grabbed her arm and struck two fingers on it.

Neji slid up her sleeve to reveal several red bruises on her arm.

Hinata's eyes widened.

"Did you-? So you were-?"

"Correct." Neji replied. "My eyes can see the Chakra Points."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"In the chakra circulatory system there are 361 points known as Chakra Points. Their width is as small as a needle and if they're hit accurately, the enemy's chakra flow may increase or decrease." Kakashi-sensei said. "Let me just add this: My Sharingan is unable to see those Chakra Points."

They were all brought back to the match as they heard Hinata's scream. Neji slammed his palm against Hinata's chest, sending her falling backwards. He calmly walked towards her.

"Hinata, this is the difference in our unchangeable powers." He stated. "It's the difference that separates the elites from the dropouts. This is the unchangeable were destined to this when you said that you didn't want to run away. You should be in despair right now."

Hinata panted heavily, but said nothing. Neji stepped forward, continuing his speech.

"This is your last chance. Give up."

"I'm…" Hinata's voice came out barely above a whisper. Blood fell from her mouth as she struggled to get to her feet. "Not going to… take back… my… words." She got up. "That's my ninja way."

Ryoko smiled. Naruto had said those very same words back in the first exam.

Neji's eyes narrowed. "Come."

Hinata positioned as well and dashed towards her cousin. She tried to hit Neji's shoulders, but he dodged with ease. However, Hinata was also blocking all of his attacks. She was heavily injured because of the attacks from before, but still she was fighting with all her strength. Whether she realized that or not, she had changed.

Suddenly, Neji's attacks got stronger and he punched Hinata's jaw.

"Hinata!"

She stumbled backwards. But she didn't fall. Even though she was using all her effort to do that, she was still standing.

Hinata ran towards Neji again, raising her palm to attack. He was faster. More blood fell from her mouth as she fell on the floor, paralyzed.

Everyone's eyes widened as they stared down at the two fighters. Neji's face was still emotionless as he spoke.

"You are such a stubborn person. Your attacks had no effect in me to begin with. It's over." With that, he deactivated the Byakugan and started to walk away.

Ryoko gritted her teeth and her eyes turned into slit cat ones, _'She fought with all she had and still Neji treated her like that. That stupid lowlife…'_

Hayate walked to check on Hinata.

"I am going to assume she can't fight anymore-"

"Don't stop the match!" Naruto and interrupted.

All the eyes in the arena widened at the sight of Hinata struggling to get to her feet. Hinata slowly stood up, using all her effort to keep her balance. She panted heavily and held her chest.

Neji's face as his eyes narrowed. He reactivated the Byakugan.

"There's no point in acting tough. You're barely able to stand up." He said coldly. "I can tell with these eyes that you have carried the destiny known as the Hyuuga Family. You cursed your powerlessness and blamed yourself. But people cannot change. This is destiny."

Hinata shook her head. And this time, when she spoke, her voice didn't tremble. Not even a bit. "You're wrong, Neji-nii-san. Because I can see that you're the one suffering more than me."

Neji's mouth fell open.

"You are the one who is confused and suffering inside the fate of the head and branch families." Hinata continued.

Neji glared at her. Without a warning, he launched towards Hinata with a murderous intent.

Ryoko's eyes widened and she jumped the rail.

A cloud of smoke engulfed him when he was a few inches from Hinata. All the Sensei's plus the proctor were holding him back. Gai held his head, Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai, his arms, and Hayate poked his headband with a finger. Ryoko held Hinata protectively.

"Neji, cut it out." Gai commanded. "You've made a passionate promise with me that you would not argue about the head family."

"Why did the other Jounins come out?" Neji demanded through gritted teeth. "Does the head family receive a special treatment?"

Hinata suddenly gasped and fell to her knees, coughing hard. Kurenai ran to her side worriedly.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled, jumping down to the arena with Lee following.

Kurenai laid her down with Ryoko's help.

"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto promptly asked.

The shy girl turned her eyes to us.

"Ryoko… Naruto… I…" She said weakly.

"Save your energy, you'll need it." Ryoko said softly, holding her hand.

Hinata said nothing more and blinked a few times before finally closing her eyes.

Ryoko let out a growl of anger.

"Hey, you two there." Neji called.

Naruto and Ryoko turned to glare at him. "Let me warn you about two things. If you're a ninja, stop that unsightly cheering. It's annoying. And one more thing. A dropout is a dropout. They cannot change."

Naruto clenched his fists.

"Do you want to try?" Neji smirked as Naruto charged blindly at him. Before he could attack, though, Lee appeared in front of him.

"I understand how you're feeling, Naruto. But you should fight in a proper match."

"I don't care!" Ryoko yelled and, before anyone could stop her, aimed a punch to Neji's face. The Hyuuga barely blocked it with his hand and tried to push her back. "You jerk! You tried to kill her, didn't you?!"

Neji smirked.

"Took you long enough to figure out."

Her other fist connected to his cheek. "That's for what you did to Hinata!" She said promptly before going back to Hinata's side.

She stiffened at the sound of Hinata coughing more blood.

Kurenai immediately opened her coat and put a hand on her chest. She frowned and glared at Neji. Once again, the Hyuuga smirked.

"If you have time to glare at me, I believe you should use that time to look at her."

"Medical team!" Kurenai called. "Hurry!"

Three medic-nins ran to Hinata and carefully put her on a stretcher. They started to take her to the infirmary as fast as they could. Ryoko sent Neji one last glare and ran after them.

"Ryoko, where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not going to abandon her now!" Ryoko shouted back.

* * *

Gaara stood a few meters from them, glaring at both Konoha shinobi. He didn't have a single scratch on.

Lee fought against Gaara. And lost.

Naruto jumped from the balcony towards Lee.

After hearing the good news about Hinata, Ryoko returned to the arena to see Lee's state after his fight with Gaara, his arms and legs were bleeding severely.

"Bushy brows…" Naruto whispered.

The medical team rushed to put Lee on a stretcher and quickly checked his condition. By the looks on the medic-nins faces, it was worse than everyone thought.

"Are you the Jounin in charge of him?" One of them asked, turning to Gai. He nodded. "This way, please."

Gai followed the medic-nin a few steps away, so no one would hear them.

Ryoko turned to Naruto with a mix of confusion and horror plastered in her face.

"What happened?" The blond's hands balled into fists.

"Lee… He almost won. He opened some sort of gate in his body that gave him even more strength and speed, but…" He trailed off, glaring at Gaara. Apparently, that wasn't enough to defeat the Suna shinobi.

"He is breathing, but the bones in his entire body have suffered comminuted fractures, and his muscles have been torn up." The medic said. "I believe it will take a lot of time for him to recover. That alone would have been fine, but the damage to his left arm and leg is too severe." He lowered his head. "It's hard to say this… but his body will no longer allow him to live as a ninja."

Naruto gasped. Ryoko's mouth fell open. How many things could go wrong in only one day?

"That's got to be a lie…" Naruto whispered as they watched the medics carrying Lee out. Gai looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"He said that a dropout was going to defeat a genius through hard work!" Naruto suddenly yelled, squeezing his fists even harder. "Can't something be done?!"

He was about to launch towards the medics when a cloud of smoke appeared behind him. Kakashi-sensei held Naruto back and used one hand to cover his mouth.

"Calm down, Naruto." Sensei said. The blond shoved sensei's arm away.

"But! Kakashi-sensei! He wanted to fight Neji and Sasuke and Ryoko so badly!"

"This may have caused this unfortunate incident. To make those wishes come true he used a self-damaging jutsu to try and win. And that is the result. He did know the consequences of that jutsu."

Heads still down, they walked up to the balconies so the last match could start.

-0-

Up in the balconies with the Sand Team, Akki frowned when Gaara came back but Temari smirked.

"Welcome back, Gaara."

Gaara didn't say anything, however Akki whispered to him.

"You know that no matter what I support whatever you do, right?"

"…Only because that's what my father hired you for…" Gaara responded.

"I honestly don't care about your father, but did you really have to do that much damage to the poor guy?"

"…Mind your own business and focus on your match."

Akki looked at the screen and saw that it was her vs Choji.

(Dosu and Kabuto fought and Kabuto forfeited.)

She could help but scoff, "It won't take long." She said as she jumped the balcony and took her spot in front of Choji.

"Let the final match begin!"

""You can do it, fatso!" Ino yelled.

Choji's eyes turned white with anger, "I'm going to finish this match quickly and then I'm coming after you, Ino!!"

Akki rolled her eyes and pulled out her giant boomerang. She raised it above her head and then lowered it on Choji's head, knocking him unconscious.

"This boomerang is made out of the toughest bones. Bones as hard as steel." She placed it back on her back, "Weighs a few hundred pounds…lucky for him I didn't hit his head hard enough to crack his skull."

"The winner of the final match is Akki!" Hayate announced, "As of this moment, the preliminaries to the third Chunin Exams are now complete!"

Everyone felt relieved that the preliminaries were finally over. They gathered on the ground floor in a file line horizontally in front of Hayate, Anko, Ibiki and the Hokage along with the other examinees.

"To those who have made it to the main matches of the Chunin Exams Third Exam… Congratulations! Your main match fights will be shown in front of everyone. We wish for all of you to show off your abilities as your country's representative power. Therefore, the main matches will begin in one month."

"A whole month?" Ryoko questioned confused.

"We're not going to do it right here, right now?" Naruto asked.

"The one month is a time to conduct appropriate preparations." The Hokage explained, "In other words, we are going to announce to the feudal lords and Kages of the individual countries that the preliminary matches have ended. And time is needed to gather those people for the main matches. This is also preparation time for you candidates. This time is used so you can know your enemy and yourself better. It's a time to analyze the information you have gathered during the preliminary matches. There are those who have revealed everything to their rivals." The Hokage continued. "To make things fair, work hard and improve yourselves on your own in the next month. So, I want to let your guys go, but there is something important we must to before the main matches." The Hokage said that with a sly smirk.

"What is it? I have to hurry and train!" Naruto yelled impatiently.

"Don't get so hasty. Take a piece of paper from the box Anko is holding."

Anko walked between them and each one of the competitors pulled out a paper with a number written.

"Now tell me the number you got, starting from the left." Ibiki instructed.

"8." Dosu said.

"1 of course." Naruto said.

"10" Ryoko said.

"7." Temari said.

"5." Kankuro said.

"3." Gaara whispered.

"11." Akki said.

"9." Shikamaru sighed.

"2." Neji said.

"6." Shino said.

The Hokage nodded. "Then Sasuke will be 4. We will now tell you the match-ups for the tournament."

Naruto's mouth dropped, "What?!"

"That's what we drew for?" Shikamaru exclaimed, also surprised.

"Ibiki, show the match-ups."

Ibiki nodded and showed us a board with the match-ups. Naruto was paired against Neji.

Gaara would fight Sasuke. Kankuro would be fighting Shino. Dosu would fight Temari. Shikamaru would fight Akki. And Ryoko would fight who ever is left.

"Well that stinks." Ryoko muttered. "I'm a remainder. Thanks a lot old man."

Hokage smirked, "Don't blame me Ryoko, blame yourself for drawing the number."

Ryoko pouted, "Old geezer…"

"Now then...It's time for you to go plan your strategies, rest up. Or whatever you please. We're all finished here…unless any of you have questions?"

Shikamaru raised his hand, "May I?"

Hokage nodded, "You may."

"You said this is a tournament, so…there's only one winner, right? Then…does that mean that only one of us gets to be Chunin?"

"No, that is not the case. For the finals, you will observe by many judges…not only me, but the Kazekage and the rulers and shinobi leaders of countries that will be requesting missions, as well. Based on your performance in the tournament, those judges will assign you an absolute value and all those who are deemed to have sufficient ability to be a journeyman ninja…even those who may have lost in the first round can be Chunin."

"Do you mean that it's possible that all of us here could become Chunin?" Temari asked.

"Yes. However it is also possible that none of you will become Chunin. Does that answer your question, Shikamaru?"

'Geez…he didn't have to throw it back in my face…' Shikamaru thought.

"Well, then good work all! You are dismissed until one month from now!"


	18. In need of a Sensei!

I_ Do _own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry the plot is still missing so LadyAmazon went on an epic quest to find it . A team of highly trained Ninja monkeys and AntEaters has been dispatched to deal with this situation**, LadyAmazon is unavailable. So another team of trained monkeys will handle this chapter hence the reason for the late update. **

School's finally over so let everyone rejoice! But that doesn't mean I'll update all the time although I'll try. Sorry everyone but I am a huge procrastinator. Guilty. But I'm doing it bit by bit when I'm bored! b ^.^ d thumbs up for me. And the monkeys had trouble deciding what to do about Ryoko's teacher. (someone suggested and it was a very good idea that got the gears in my head turning and a plot twist occurred! You know who you are whoever suggested! So whoever you are...THANK YOU!)

(Reviewers, Favoriters, Alerters, and Messengers:)

Jen

leogirl321

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Azura Soul Reaver

chibiamu

SasukeLuver

jennku

Song of my day... Bass Hunter - I can walk on water

* * *

Ryoko decided to go to the hospital before she started training. Lee and Sasuke were still there and she wanted to check on them.

Ryoko entered the hospital's white building and glanced around. Loads of nurses and doctors rushed around non-stop. People there seemed more busy than usual because of the exams and missions. A grin spread across her lips as she caught a glimpse of a spiky silver hair defying gravity.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!"

He turned with a slightly cheerful look and gave me a lazy wave.

"Oy, Ryoko." He walked to me. "Came to see Sasuke?"

"Lee too." She added.

Sensei nodded. "If you had come a few minutes earlier you would've found Naruto."

"Naruto? What was he doing here?" She asked, raising a eyebrow.

"He wanted me to train him. I said that I couldn't and sent him off with a guy called Ebisu-"

"The closet perv?" Ryoko recalled the time Naruto told her about him.

"Why do all of you keep calling him that?"

"Because Naruto said so. Why did you let Naruto train with him?"

"Well…" Kakashi-sensei scratched his head, sounding a little nervous. "He's better at teaching than I, and-"

"You just did that so you could train Sasuke, didn't you?" She inquired, glaring at him. Sensei's sweat drop grew bigger. "You could say that…"

"That's not fair! Who's going to train me? I'm running out of good Sensei's here and even though some of us know that Might Guy is one of the best, I refuse to be a female version of Lee."

"I'm sure Naruto can share Ebisu with you."

"No thanks…"

Sensei shrugged. "Alright… Anyway, just don't forget to tell Sasuke I'm waiting for him. Good luck on finding a teacher!"

"Huh? Hey. Wait a min-!"

Poof!

No need to say that was the sound of Kakashi-sensei's cloud of smoke. Ryoko glared at the empty space the Jounin had left.

Ryoko let out an annoyed sigh and walked towards the reception, "Excuse me, can you tell me which room Sasuke Uchiha is in?" I asked the receptionist.

The woman smiled. "Sorry. Sasuke Uchiha isn't allowed any visitors."

"Then what about Rock Lee?"

The receptionist looked over her clipboard, "Yes…Rock Lee…he finished his tests so he's allowed visitors, but please don't stay too long. He's in room 209."

"Thank you." She made a bee line through the halls for room 209.

As she walked, she noticed something peculiar. Some grains of sand were scattered on the floor. She followed the sand with her eyes towards the door of one of the rooms. Lee's room. Her eyes widened. _'Is it that sand shinobi?'_

Without a moment of hesitation, she ran to Lee's room and slammed the door open. Lee lied unconscious on the bed. Gaara was standing still beside the black haired boy with his gourd of sand open. She then noticed Shikamaru and Naruto in the far corner.

"Ryoko!" Naruto cried.

"What the heck is going on here?"

"I tried to kill him." Gaara stated in an indifferent tone, as if it were a simple thing.

"Nani?" Naruto exclaimed infuriated as Shikamaru gritted his teeth.

"Why do you need to do that? You won the match." The lazy boy said matter-of-factly. "Do you have some sort of personal grudge against him?" Ryoko asked.

"No." Gaara answered in the same calm and cold voice. "I'm going to kill him because I want him dead."

"That's the most selfish thing I've ever heard!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger to him.

"Yeah and we've heard some pretty selfish things!" Ryoko agreed glaring at him.

"If you keep bothering me I'll kill you too." Gaara stated.

"Wanna bet?" Ryoko snapped.

"YEAH, BRING IT!" Naruto yelled, raising his fists.

"Cut it out you two!" Shikamaru hissed, knitting his eyebrows together. "We know that you're strong, since we saw your match with him. But we ourselves are pretty strong as well. We didn't show our strongest moves in the preliminaries."

"We didn't?" Naruto whispered, slightly confused.

Ryoko shot him a glare.

"Besides, it's three against one." Shikamaru continued, choosing to ignore him. "You're at disadvantage. If you listen to us, we can let you go."

"I'm only going to say this once more." Gaara said. "If you bother me, I'll kill you."

"There's no way you can kill us!" Naruto declared, pointing his finger again to Gaara.

"I told you to stop doing that!" Shikamaru scolded. "That guy's strong as a monster."

"That may be true." The blond smirked. "But I have a real monster inside of me. I won't lose to him."

"A monster, uh?" Gaara asked, "Then I am the same."

Everyone momentarily froze.

"I wasn't raised right... I took the life of a woman who was called my mother when I was born. To become the ultimate ninja, my father used a Ninjutsu to bind an incarnate of sand in me. I was a monster at birth…It is called Shukaku, and it was sealed in a teakettle. It is a living soul of an elder priest from Sunagakure."

_'Oh man, he has a demon. He has a freaking demon! If it's anything like Naruto's demon we're going to have to be careful!'_ Ryoko yelled inside her head, letting the information sink in.

Shaking his head, Shikamaru made a tsk sound, "That's not what a parent should do. What a twisted way to show love."

"Love?" Gaara questioned this time a hint of anger in his tone. "Don't measure me by your values. Family? Let me tell you what kind of link I have with them. They're just lumps of meat linked by hatred and murderous intent. I stole my mother's life and was created to become the village's masterpiece. And as Kazekage's son, my father taught me the secrets of Ninjutsu. I grew up after being overprotect, spoiled and left alone. I thought that was love. Until that incident happened…"

"What incident?" Shikamaru asked, his voice trembling a little.

Gaara remained quiet for some time until Gaara's lips curved into a smirk. A murderous smirk that could send chills down the toughest ninja's spine.

"These past six years, starting from when I was six, my father tried to assassinate me numerous times."

The others gasped.

"But you said that he spoiled you." Shikamaru said in a firmer tone.

"A being that is too strong eventually becomes an embodiment of fear. Since I was born from the usage of a jutsu, my mind was unstable. The idiots in my village finally noticed that my emotions were unpredictable. To Kazekage, my father, I was the village's trump card. But at the same time, I was a threat. After I turned six, it seems that they classified me as a dangerous being. I was the village's dangerous toll, but still handled with care. I am only a relic of the past they want to get rid of. So why do I exist and live? I asked myself that question, but could not find the answer. But I need those reasons while I'm still alive. Or it would be the same as me being dead."

"What is he talking about?" Shikamaru murmured.

Naruto stared at Gaara with wide eyes and an open mouth. The Suna boy's story was more similar to his.

"And this is what I concluded." Gaara continued. "I exist to kill everyone other than me. I finally found relief in the fear of being assassinated at any time. By killing the assassins, I was able to recognize my reason to live. I fight only for myself, and love only myself. As long as I think that other people exist to make me feel that, the world is wonderful. As long as there are people to kill in this world – to make me experience the joy of killing – my existence will remain."

Naruto took a step back, still staring at Gaara. Ryoko did the same and Shikamaru's shadow stretching back. The jutsu had ended. And Gaara could move again. The timing couldn't have been worse. The sand reacted almost immediately, rising into the air. It spread through the room, circling them.

"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!" Shikamaru yelled.

Frowning, Ryoko turned to look at him.

The blond in the same position as before, completely paralyzed. He looked like he couldn't move a muscle even if he wanted to. And the sand was advancing towards them. And fast.

Ryoko shifted her hand to grab a kunai but cursed when she remembered that she was in the hospital. They took her weapons.

"Stop it right here." A familiar male voice demanded.

Gaara's sand stopped. Ryoko, Naruto and Shikamaru stared with wide eyes at Guy standing in the doorframe with an unusual serious expression.

"The main matches are tomorrow. There's no need to get hasty. Or do you want to get hospitalized today?" This last part was directed to Gaara.

The red haired clutched his head with both hands, with an expression that combined pain, sorrow and confusion. The sand slowly retreated to the jar as Gaara dropped one hand. His face soon went back to its emotionless state. Without saying a word, Gaara walked to the door. He put a hand on the doorframe for support and turned to the Genin.

"I will kill you guys for sure." And then he left.

And something told them he intended to keep the threat.

* * *

Ryoko followed Naruto our of the hospital,

"So, Naruto. How's training with Ebisu?"

Naruto gave her a huge grin, "Ah, I'm not training under him anymore! I've got a new Sensei to train me and he's teaching me all these cool Jutsu!"

Ryoko tilted her head curiously, "Wow, really? What kind of Jutsu?"

Naruto listed off the things he learned, "Well, Ebisu taught me how to walk on water. Then the pervy sage tossed me into a canyon to learn how to summon Chief Toad…"

Ryoko stopped listening after Naruto said pervy sage. 'What kind of Sensei does he have?'

"What's up, Ryoko?" Naruto asked, noticing that she stopped walking.

Ryoko shook her head, "Nothing. Hey, do you think I could meet your new Sensei?"

Naruto grinned, "Yeah! Maybe he can teach you a thing or too! He's probably off doing research or something right now, but it shouldn't be too hard to find him."

"Researching what? Hot girls for his trashy novel that Kakashi-sensei always reads."

Ryoko paused again, 'Again what kind of teacher does he have?'

* * *

"Hey! Pervy Sage!"

The tall white-haired man stiffened as he heard our voices calling him. Two teenage girls giggled sweetly beside him. (You guys know what Jiraiya looks like. Who could forget a guy like that?)

Naruto devilishly and ran towards him as fast as he could.

The man's eyes turned white in anger as he clenched his fist at us, "You fool! Who are you calling Pervy Sage?"

"Whatever Pervy Sage. Listen, can you train my friend here? She doesn't have a Sensei for the Chunin exams! She's really good! Almost as good as Sasuke!"

Jiraiya looked like he didn't know whether to cry or to beat him to a pulp.

"IDIOT!"

* * *

"So, who are you?" Jiraiya asked, raising an eyebrow at Ryoko. "You look quite familiar to me."

_'Believe me; I would've remembered if I had met you before.'_ Ryoko mused, swallowing a piece of the giant watermelon. After all, meeting an incredibly tall, perverted white-haired man with a red line coming down from each of his eyes and a headband with the kanji for "oil" on it was something that you wouldn't forget. (Like meeting a fellow cosplayer at the mall. (: D) )

"I told you about her, she's my best friend!" Naruto replied, grabbing another piece of watermelon. "Ryoko Koneko!"

Jiraiya's eyes widening slightly at her name. Jiraiya then got up of the table with a sigh.

"Well, well, looks like I wasted some time."

"Hey, wait a second!" Naruto called as we got up as well. "Where are you going?"

"I don't care!" Jiraiya yelled, waving his arms madly. "You ruined my data gathering!"

"Data gathering?" Naruto snapped back, pointing a finger at the hermit. "We can't just stay here and do nothing. We need to train like crazy, become stronger than everyone, pass the Chuunin exams and surpass the Hokages!"

Jiraiya stared at him for a second before his final declaration.

"That's none of my business. Why do you keep bothering me? I still need to find sexy babes for my great writing!"

"So we just have to bring you a sexy babe? Alright!" Naruto declared as he cracked his knuckles. A cloud of smoke engulfed Naruto. Jiraiya soon drooled over the blonde naked girl with pigtails standing where Naruto was before.

Naruto blinked and gave Jiraiya an innocent smile. The old man's eyes practically jumped out of their orbits.

"Please, don't stare so much… I'm getting embarrassed." Naruto said in a high-pitched seductive tone.

Jiraiya continued staring, paralyzed. Then…

"I LIKE YOU! YOU PASS!" He declared, loud enough for all Konoha to hear, giving the blonde thumbs up.

They sweat dropped as the very same thought occurred to them. _'He's such a pervert.'_

"That's my type of girl! What do you call this jutsu?" Jiraiya asked, eagerly checking Naruto's sides.

"Ne… I call it Orioke no Ju-"

"Great idea! You're a genius!"

"So will you supervise our training?" Naruto asked in the sweetest tone he could manage.

"Yes, but there's one condition."

"Spit it out. Time is running and we're not getting any stronger."

A small fillet of blood fell from Jiraiya's nose, "You must remain in that form whenever you're with me."

Naruto immediately undid the jutsu, eyes white in anger.

"Hey! You are just a pervert, Pery Sage!" He yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"No, I'm no ordinary pervert!" He snapped. "I'm a SUPER PERVERT!"

Jiraiya's eyes turned into swirls as Ryoko's fist connected to his head. _'I must be out of my mind to let that guy teach me. But, I'm running out of time. It was either him or nothing.'_

"I was kidding about what I said earlier. I will supervise your training." Jiraiya said, causing Naruto and Ryoko to watch him in suspicion.

"Now resume the training you were doing before, Naruto."

Naruto huffed and went back to his walking on water training.

Jiraiya turned to Ryoko with a serious expression, "Now I have to know…is your name really Ryoko Koneko?"

Ryoko nodded seriously, "Yeah. I'm the last of my clan. What of it?"

"I won't be able to train you." Jiraiya informed her.

Ryoko's mouth nearly dropped, "What? But I thought you were going to train me."

He shook his head firmly, "I'm not the one to train you. You need someone from your own clan to train you."

"But I don't have anyone from my own clan to train me!"

Jiraiya smirked, "Actually you do."

Ryoko stared at him perplexed, "What do you mean?" She shook her head, "No, they told me that everyone in my clan is dead. I was there!"

Jiraiya placed a hand on her shoulder, "Trust me when I say there's another survivor…and she's actually here in the village visiting."

Ryoko stared at him with little hope, 'How do I know he's not playing with me? Ever since that massacre I thought for sure that my entire clan had been killed. No one found any survivors. How can this old man tell me otherwise?' "Are you dead serious?" Ryoko asked giving the old man her best Sasuke death glare.

Jiraiya was unfazed by her glare but nodded. "Her name is Kimura Koneko and she's staying at this apartment here." He slipped into his robe and pulled out a slip of paper. He handed it to her. "It's your decision whether to go to her or not."

Ryoko took the slip of paper and flash jumped away.

* * *

Ryoko stopped in front of the apartment door that looked similar to Naruto's. Looking at the slip of paper to check the address again she took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

A moment later a young women with lavender waist length hair in a dark purple yakata opened the door. What struck Ryoko the most were her cat like eyes. Very common to anyone in the Koneko clan.

"Are you Kimura Koneko?" Ryoko asked.

Kimura nodded.

With determination in her eyes, Ryoko got on her hands and knees, "My name is Ryoko Koneko and I wish for you to train me."

* * *

^.^ That's it everyone! Sorry for the major delay and thanks to those who kept tab on how long its been since i updated. Wow Two whole months. I'll try to keep on it from now on, but no promises. Hope everyone is having a rockin summer! I will because i'm going to OtoKon 2010! Still haven't figured out my cosplay yet, but i'll have to get creative.


	19. Finals: Naruto vs Neji

I do own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for the late updates, getting ready for Otakon! I'm squeezing in work in before I leave for the three days!

(Reviewers, Favoriters, Alerters, and Messengers:)

.Nicoleta – Thank you alerting! Means a lot! ^.^

1o1dragon

XxNyu-chanXx

WildTiger777 – I'm sure some people would debate on that. My stories are awful. And although I'm a terrible procrastinator I'll try to update in between time. Thanks for reviewing! ^.^

TaliSasu - . This can't be the greatest story you've ever read in your life! There are greater! Mine are horrible! My grammar and spelling are awful! I accidentally use other character names instead of the original by accident and I'm too lazy to fix them!

Smilling Crazy – I honestly don't know how there's another one alive. I make it up as I go because the plot is lost and I go with whatever my fingers type. Blame my fingers! .

Yachiru Hatake – wow, best remake series? ^.^ what a compliment. I don't think I write the best. I try to put more effort but it turns out to be my worst effort.

leogirl321 – Since the second/third part of the Chunin Exams didn't partake in two months I decided to wait that long before updating and hopefully get inspired. I got the wrong inspiration when I started to write my own Pokémon Platinum adventure. Don't know why, I blame the children. But Yay! I'm forgiven!

Chibiamu - *Num um Num!* Cookies!

Jennku – I think I'll start regretting that plot twist since I don't know where I'm going with this story, I think I made a mary-sue. Sorry, Naru!

Ominous Blue – Thank you!

Ray-nee-chan – Thank you!

Song of my day... Bass Hunter - Dota

* * *

"Yes, Ryoko Koneko…I remember you." Kimura placed a cup of green tea in font of Ryoko before sitting down next to her on the roof top. She grabbed her own cup and took a sip as she looked over the silent night of Konoha, "You were so little the last time I saw you. It was your third birthday…"

Ryoko peered down at her tea, watching the reflection of the full moon, "I don't remember you at all. I thought there weren't any survivors after…"

Kimura sighed, "Yes, I thought so too. I was there in the midst of all that chaos."

Ryoko shyly looked at Kimura, "Can you tell me what happened that day? What were those people who attacked our village looking for? Why did they -?"

"They were just selfish bandits looking treasure. They foolishly killed everyone to get their hands on something that they could not attain…"

"What is it?"

"Our clan is a lot like the Inuzuka clan. Their partners are dogs while ours are cats. We have partners that stay by our side and assist us in battle. Those bandits were looking for the cat demon in our village."

"Cat demon? Really?"

"It's not an evil demon at all, but if the wrong people get their hands on it…it can be."

"Where is the cat demon?"

Kimura sighed, "I don't know…our legends often told that the cat demon resided in someone of our clan, but since those vile bandits killed everyone…its possible that the cat demon is dead too."

Ryoko bit her lip, "How awful…"

Kimura looked at the starry sky with regret, "It is…sometimes I'm ashamed to even be alive because there hasn't been a day that has gone by where I've thought, 'was there more I could've done to save anyone?' 'Why couldn't I have been stronger?' 'Why did I have to survive when others didn't?' I've lived every single day in regret."

Ryoko nodded in understanding, "I've felt that way too…"

Kimura shook her head, "You were just a child then, you couldn't have done much."

"But I was still there! I felt like a coward running away and leaving my parents there to fight alone!" Ryoko bit back a sob, "I can't even avenge them in the state I'm in."

Kimura placed a hand on her shoulder, "That's why I'm going to help you. Even though I'm young I'm not as experienced as I used to be, but I'll show you a Justus of our clan and the rest of the training is up to you."

"What kind of jutsu is it?"

"Don't get your hopes up, kid. It's nothing flashy, just a simple low level jutsu for beginners."

Ryoko frowned, "Are you serious? I have to fight in the Chunin Exams. I need stronger jutsu! I've been relying on hand to hand combat and shadow clone!"

"One thing that we cat folk learn very well is to adapt…" Kimura said mysteriously, "Since we lived so close to Konoha we've adapted to fire-based Jutsu…and you've been around your friend Naruto well enough to copy his Jutsu."

"You're confusing me." Ryoko said annoyed.

Kimura sighed, "What I'm telling you is. Even though you feel that you don't have a lot of time to learn an impressive strong jutsu in a limited amount of time…it really isn't difficult for you to learn it. Did it take you long to learn hand to hand? No. Why? Because you saw many people do it before you attempted it yourself. Have you ever done a shadow clone jutsu yourself? No. Your friend Naruto did in a few hours after much trial and error, you accomplished it on your first try. Why? Because you saw him do it." Kimura explained, "Our body's are like the Sharingan. We see it and copy it and make it ours."

"So what you're saying is…that if I saw Sasuke doing a fireball jutsu, I'll be able to do it…just like that?" Ryoko asked.

Kimura nodded, "Yes. It's that simple." She stood up, "Now on with the first part of your training." She went inside to fetch a small red scroll decorated in red-orange flames, "This is a summoning scroll of a fire cat." She unrolled the scroll before Ryoko and placed it before her. "Write your name in blood to complete the contract." She handed Ryoko a knife.

Ryoko made a small cut on her index finger and wrote her name in a blank spot in the scroll. (That bothered me a bit when I saw Naruto did that! The kid cuts his thumb, you've got an open cut, then he writes his name in blood on scroll paper, congratulations you've got bacteria in your thumb. Hardly sensible! Bad enough they give 12 year olds weapons and then send them on suicide missions to never be seen again!)

"Now apply your chakra to the scroll and you should be able to do a summoning."

"Just like that?" Ryoko asked in disbelief.

Kimura nodded, "It's a basic summoning jutsu so there really is nothing to it."

Taking her word for it Ryoko placed her hand to the scroll and focused her chakra. Blue chakra began to pour out of her hand and onto the scroll. Kimura watched on intently.

Soon a small cloud of smoke rose from the scroll and a successful 'pop' sounded to Kimura's and Ryoko's ears.

Peering at what Ryoko had summoned Kimura smiled at Ryoko, "Let's get to training. You have a lot of work and not a lot of time."

Ryoko nodded firmly, "I'm ready!"

* * *

1 Month later…(Well I've haven't written in 2 months. Sorry everyone!)

The roar of the crowd could be heard all over Konoha as almost everyone gathered at the arena to witness the final rounds of the Chunin s.

"Holy cow…" Ryoko whispered astonished as she looked around the arena. There were no empty seats in the arena. "Pretty big turn out."

"Well, what do you expect?" An equally bored voice asked from her left side. "Everyone is here to watch Sasuke Uchiha."

"Shikamaru you're here?" Ryoko asked, slightly surprised.

Shikamaru sighed, "Of course I am. I passed the semifinals to."

"Yeah, but I thought you wouldn't come because it would be such a drag."

"Believe me I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to."

"You're being forced, huh?"

"Yup."

Looking around, Ryoko saw that all the competitors but Sasuke, Naruto and Dosu had already arrived. The Suna siblings and Akki were together, as usual, sending hostile glares to everyone and everything around them. Shino stood quietly next to Neji.

The proctor, a Chunin with a toothpick in his mouth called Genma, told us the matches were about to begin.

'But where are Naruto and Sasuke?' Ryoko wondered worriedly with a frown. 'If they didn't arrive soon they'll have to forfeit.'

A loud scream of despair caused everyone to turn towards the entrance. It was him.

Naruto came in flying forward and falling face first on the ground, sliding all the way to the Genin and Proctor. His eyes turned into swirls and he looked as though he had been attacked by something.

Shikamaru sighed in annoyance, "What kind of entrance was that?"

"A very funny one, you've got to admit it." Ryoko chuckled.

Naruto blinked twice and his eyes turned back to normal. He jumped to his feet, looking suddenly full of energy.

"Everyone, run! The entire village's bulls– the bulls are going to go after everyone!" He shouted alarmed.

"Uh, sure they are…" Ryoko muttered waving him off.

"I'm serious! There were so many of them!" Naruto stopped for a moment and glanced around. "Uh, where's Sasuke?"

Ryoko shrugged. "No idea. But he'd better show up soon."

"That Dosu guy that was supposed to fight Kankuro isn't here, either." Shikamaru added.

"Stop walking around." Genma scolded turning to Naruto, Shikamaru and Ryoko. "Stand up straight and show your faces to the crowd."

Naruto blinked twice and looked around finally realizing how many people were there. The air then was filled with loud cheers from the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to Konohagakure Chunin Exam today." The voice of the Hokage echoed through the arena. "We will now begin the main matches with the ten that have passed the preliminaries. Please, enjoy the matches."

This caused another loud cheer from the crowd to echo.

"There are some things I need to tell you before the matches." Genma stated. He then took a board with the match-ups out of his Chunin vest. "There was a little change in the match-ups."

Naruto vs. Neji, Sasuke vs. Gaara, Kankuro vs. Dosu, Shikamaru vs. Temari, and Ryoko vs. Akki.

"Hey, what happened to Dosu?" Ryoko questioned.

"Dunno." Shikamaru.

Naruto started waving his hand wildly to gain Genma's attention, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

"What?" Genma asked.

"Sasuke hasn't arrived yet. What are we going to do?"

"If he doesn't come here by the time his match starts, he'll lose by default."

"Now apply your chakra to the scroll and you should be able to do a summoning."

"Just like that?" Ryoko asked in disbelief.

Kimura nodded, "It's a basic summoning jutsu so there really is nothing to it."

Taking her word for it Ryoko placed her hand to the scroll and focused her chakra. Blue chakra began to pour out of her hand and onto the scroll. Kimura watched on intently.

Soon a small cloud of smoke rose from the scroll and a successful 'pop' sounded to Kimura's and Ryoko's ears.

Peering at what Ryoko had summoned Kimura smiled at Ryoko, "Let's get to training. You have a lot of work and not a lot of time."

Ryoko nodded firmly, "I'm ready!"

* * *

1 Month later…(Well I've haven't written in 2 months. Sorry everyone!)

The roar of the crowd could be heard all over Konoha as almost everyone gathered at the arena to witness the final rounds of the Chunin s.

"Holy cow…" Ryoko whispered astonished as she looked around the arena. There were no empty seats in the arena. "Pretty big turn out."

"Well, what do you expect?" An equally bored voice asked from her left side. "Everyone is here to watch Sasuke Uchiha."

"Shikamaru you're here?" Ryoko asked, slightly surprised.

Shikamaru sighed, "Of course I am. I passed the semifinals to."

"Yeah, but I thought you wouldn't come because it would be such a drag."

"Believe me I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to."

"You're being forced, huh?"

"Yup."

Looking around, Ryoko saw that all the competitors but Sasuke, Naruto and Dosu had already arrived. The Suna siblings and Akki were together, as usual, sending hostile glares to everyone and everything around them. Shino stood quietly next to Neji.

The proctor, a Chunin with a toothpick in his mouth called Genma, told us the matches were about to begin.

'But where are Naruto and Sasuke?' Ryoko wondered worriedly with a frown.

'If they didn't arrive soon they'll have to forfeit.'

A loud scream of despair caused everyone to turn towards the entrance. It was him.

Naruto came in flying forward and falling face first on the ground, sliding all the way to the Genin and Proctor. His eyes turned into swirls and he looked as though he had been attacked by something.

Shikamaru sighed in annoyance, "What kind of entrance was that?"

"A very funny one, you've got to admit it." Ryoko chuckled.

Naruto blinked twice and his eyes turned back to normal. He jumped to his feet, looking suddenly full of energy.

"Everyone, run! The entire village's bulls– the bulls are going to go after everyone!" He shouted alarmed.

"Uh, sure they are…" Ryoko muttered waving him off.

"I'm serious! There were so many of them!" Naruto stopped for a moment and glanced around. "Uh, where's Sasuke?"

Ryoko shrugged. "No idea. But he'd better show up soon."

"That Dosu guy that was supposed to fight Kankuro isn't here, either." Shikamaru added.

"Stop walking around." Genma scolded turning to Naruto, Shikamaru and Ryoko. "Stand up straight and show your faces to the crowd."

Naruto blinked twice and looked around finally realizing how many people were there. The air then was filled with loud cheers from the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to Konohagakure Chunin Exam today." The voice of the Hokage echoed through the arena. "We will now begin the main matches with the ten that have passed the preliminaries. Please, enjoy the matches."

This caused another loud cheer from the crowd to echo.

"There are some things I need to tell you before the matches." Genma stated. He then took a board with the match-ups out of his Chunin vest. "There was a little change in the match-ups."

Naruto vs. Neji, Sasuke vs. Gaara, Kankuro vs. Dosu, Shikamaru vs. Temari, and Ryoko vs. Akki.

"Hey, what happened to Dosu?" Ryoko questioned.

"Dunno." Shikamaru.

Naruto started waving his hand wildly to gain Genma's attention, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

"What?" Genma asked.

"Sasuke hasn't arrived yet. What are we going to do?"

"If he doesn't come here by the time his match starts, he'll lose by default.

"Listen up!" Genma said. "Although the landscape is different, the same rules apply as in the preliminary matches; there are no rules. The match will only end when someone dies or gives up. But if I decide that the match is over I'll stop the match. Do not argue with me over it. Got it? The first match is Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga. The rest of you need to go back to the waiting room." He gestures to the upper gallery overlooking the ground floor where the matches will take place. The others started to walk away. Ryoko stayed behind to give Naruto an encouraging smirk.

"You know you can beat him, right?"

The blond smirked, "I'm going to win for sure."

"Believe it!" They cheered.

Ryoko left to join Shikamaru and Shino in the upper gallery. She eagerly leaned on the railings, not wanting to miss a single moment of the match.

Naruto and Neji turned to face each other while they waited for the match to begin.

"You look like you want to say something." Neji taunted.

Naruto raised his fist toward Neji. He didn't move to punch the boy, however. His face was incredibly tense. "I told you before… I will win!"

Neji said nothing at first, but activated his Byakugan and got into his Trigram stance.

"That makes it even better. When you find out the true reality, I will enjoy seeing your discouraged eyes."

"First match… begin!" Genma announced, stepping back as the crowd cheered.

Naruto and Neji stood still at the proctor's call.

After a few minutes of glaring, Naruto made the first move, throwing three kunai at Neji to see how he would avoid them. The Hyuuga took out another kunai and deflected the three. Naruto immediately charged towards Neji, aiming a punch at him.

Neji stepped aside and pushed Naruto's fist to the ground, causing him to lose balance slightly. The blond then flipped backwards and tried another punch. Neji dodged with ease as well as several other punches and kicks.

Neji pressed his palm against Naruto's chest, sending an intense flow of chakra on him. Naruto stood paralyzed for a moment, feeling the effects of the gentle fist. The Hyuuga smirked as he aimed two fingers at Naruto's shoulders.

Naruto fell on the ground as Neji hit his Chakra points and rolled backwards, clutching his shoulder with one hand.

"Now you understand you have no chance of winning." Neji said.

Naruto smirked, "That was just a test to see how strong you are."

Neji frowned as Naruto got up.

"The real battle starts now. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Four clones appeared in clouds of smoke, surrounding him. Kunai in hand, four of the 'Naruto's' dashed towards Neji and one stood behind. Neji flipped over the first two and dodged the others' kunai. He was so busy doing that that didn't see the fifth one coming. Naruto kneeled Neji's chin, sending the Hyuuga flying upwards. Neji flipped backwards, showing no signs of wounds, and distanced himself from Naruto and his doppelgangers. Two of them tried to get to Neji again, one coming from the left and the other from the right. The Hyuuga jumped and spun swiftly in the air. One of his feet hit the right 'Naruto's head and the other the left 'Naruto's chin. Both of them vanished in a cloud of smoke as they were sent to the ground. Two other clones darted towards Neji's back so as to stab him. Neji just pushed them forward and applied pressure on both chests.

Just one Naruto remained. Everyone stared at the fighters jaw-dropped.

"Becoming Hokage, uh?" Neji taunted with a smirk as Naruto gritted his teeth. "You can't like this. I can figure out a lot of things with these eyes. Your talent is determined when you're born. In other words, everything in predetermined at birth."

"Why do you always try to label things like that?" Naruto asked infuriated.

"Then you're trying to say that anyone can become Hokage if they try hard?" Neji asked sarcastically.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but ended up saying nothing.

"Only a few are chosen to become Hokage. Those who become Hokage are born with that fate. It's not something you can become just because you want to. It's already determined by fate. People are different. They can only live in the indisputable flow of life. But there is just one fate that everyone possesses. And that is death." Neji spoke.

Naruto's mouth dropped at his tone.

"So what?" Naruto shouted, clenching his fists. "I don't give up so easily! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Uncountable clones appeared beside him.

The clones charged towards Neji at once. The Hyuuga seemed to have no trouble in dodging their attacks or fighting back. Once hit by his gentle fist, the Kage Bunshin could barely move again. If Naruto was hit with the same strength Neji was using against the clones, he would be finished.

"I told you that I'm not stupid." Neji said as he rushed past a line of clones towards the one standing farthest from him. He had found the real one.

Two of Neji's fingers connected to 'Naruto's chest, hitting his chakra point for sure. The 'Naruto' didn't vanish. Instead, some of the other Kage Bunshin did. Naruto coughed blood.

Neji smirked, "You're the real one."

More clones disappeared. And then the own Naruto vanished. Neji's eyes widened.

Two 'Naruto' jumped from behind towards Neji. "That's right! You got the clone, you sucker!" Naruto aimed for Neji's right cheek and when his fist was almost connecting to the Hyuuga's face, a small barrier of chakra blocked it. Soon, Neji's whole body was involved with chakra. He spun around, creating some sort of chakra shield and sending both 'Naruto's' flying backwards. One of them vanished. The other was the real one.

By the time Neji stopped spinning he was standing in a small crater that his chakra had created.

Naruto stared at Neji. "What was that?"

"Did you think you had won?" Neji mocked.

Sitting up, Naruto glared at him. "Don't underestimate me!" He did the hand signs and six more Kage Bunshin appeared.

They circled him and dashed forward just to be repelled by Neji's chakra barrier again. The clones disappeared in clouds of smoke leaving Naruto alone on the ground.

"This is it." Neji said. "You are within boundaries of my eight trigrams." Neji said assumed another stance. He crouched slightly as he spread his arms and legs apart.

"Gentle fist…Eight Trigrams…64 palms."

(I loved that move in the game when I used it. However when it was used against me I hated it. Figures, huh?)

In an incredible speed, Neji spun on his feet towards Naruto. The blond had no time to dodge it. Both of Neji's fingers hit him. Two on his neck and two on his waist.

"Eight Trigrams! Two Palms!"

Naruto stumbled backwards, trying to create some room between him and the enemy so he could recuperate from the attack. But Neji wasn't giving him that opportunity.

"Four Palms! Eight palms! Sixteen Palms!"

His attacks were so fast anyone saw of them as a blur. "Thirty-two Palms! Eight Trigrams 64 Palms!"

Not being able to dodge the last blow, Naruto was thrown backwards with a fillet of blood falling from his mouth. Ryoko's mouth hung open as his back connected to the ground with a loud thud.

Neji took a deep breath and dropped his stance.

Genma approached to check Naruto's condition. The blond managed to sit up for a moment before falling forward on his face.

"I hit all 64 Chakra points in your body." Neji said calmly. "You cannot stand up anymore."

Even after the statement, Naruto struggled to get up.

"Mortifying, isn't it?" Neji continued, "You are on your knees against a power you cannot face, finding out how truly powerless you are. It is only an illusion that hard work makes dreams come true."

Ryoko clenched her fists. _'Naruto…get up. You'd better not lose to the likes of him. You've got to show Neji– show everyone, that we make our own destiny.'_

Almost in response to her thoughts, Naruto started to move. He searched for support with his hands on the ground and slowly pushed himself up. He panted heavily he still managed to raise his head.

Naruto sent the boy a small smirk, "I told you that I don't give up that easily."

"Stop fighting." Neji said. "It's going to be the same even if you continue. I have no grudge against you."

Naruto snorted. "Shut up. Even if you don't, I have one against you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Why, when you're so strong, why do you have eyes that seem to say you know everything? Why did you mentally attack Hinata like that? When she was trying her best?" He yelled, his tone becoming more infuriated.

"That has nothing to do with you." Neji retorted.

"You ridiculed Hinata and labeled her as a dropout." Naruto continued. "The head family and the branch family… I don't know what happened between them… But jerks like you who call other people dropouts will have to deal with me!"

Neji closed his eyes. "Very well, I will tell you, since you seem to care so much, about Hyuuga's fate of hatred!"

It seemed as though the crowd grew quite to hear the story.

"Hyuuga has a secret Ninjutsu that is passed within the head family." He started. "And that is the cursed seal technique. That closed seal symbolizes a caged bird and is also a symbol of those who are bound within an inescapable destiny." Neji raised his hands to his headband and started to untie it revealing a green "X" with hooks on the end of each tail and two long hooks on the left and right side of the 'X' on Neji's forehead.

Naruto stared at the seal with a dumbfounded look, trying to comprehend everything. Neji told the whole story. How his dad and Hinata's dad were twins, but Hinata's became the head of the family instead of Neji's dad. How he was marked with the seal when he was three. And the seal could destroy the branch family member's. How his father killed the man who tried to kidnap Hinata. And the man's village wanted her dad killed in exchange. Finally, Neji told how his father was sacrificed instead of Hinata's, the source of his hatred for the head family. "And in this match, your fate was decided when I became your opponent." Neji said loud and clear. "Your fate says that you will lose to me. That, I can guarantee."

"You don't know that until we actually fight!" Naruto snapped.

Neji said nothing, but started to tie his headband.

"I don't know how tough you've had it with your dad being killed a long time ago, but you've got the wrong idea by using that alone to decide fate is predetermined." Naruto said.

"You are hopeless." Neji quickly activated the Byakugan and pressed his palm against Naruto's chest before the blond had time to react. The Hyuuga glared at full intensity as Naruto rolled backwards.

"It's over." He turned to leave. "You dropout."

At those words, Naruto slowly got to his feet with a determined look.

"Don't run away…"

Neji glared at him again.

"I'm not going to take back my word… that's my way of a ninja."

His glare intensified as he recognized those words as the same Hinata told him.

"I won't lose to a guy like you… A coward who blames everything on fate!"

Neji's gaze on him hardened. "You know nothing. Don't lecture me." Neji said in a low, icily tone. "People are born carrying an unchangeable fate. To carry a seal that can never be removed." His tone became louder as he pointed an accusing finger to Naruto. "A guy like you could never understand what it means!"

Naruto was still panting, using a great effort to keep standing.

"No… I understand. So what about it?" Naruto asked, causing Neji to narrow his stare. "Stop acting cool. You're not the only special guy here." Naruto rasped, "Hinata was suffering like you. She's from the head family, but she tried her best to change herself because no one would acknowledge her. That's the determination she had and she fought you even after she was injured. And that goes for you as well!" Naruto continued. "The branch family is supposed to protect the head family, yet you did that to Hinata when it was only an exam! You were trying hard to fight against fate, weren't you?"

Neji's glare at him intensified.

Naruto coughed, feeling the pain of the Hyuuga's attacks getting stronger.

Despite of the angry, Neji smirked. "All 64 of your chakra points are closed. You won't be able to draw chakra for some time. How are you going to fight now?"

Naruto gritted his teeth. "In the end, you are going to follow the same fate as Hinata."

"Shut up! Stop talking as if you know everything with that Byakugan of yours!" Naruto shouted infuriated.

Neji's smirk widened. "Then show me if you what you say is true."

Contradicting all the expectations, Naruto closed his eyes and stood still. He seemed to be concentrating hard on something. Trying to do a jutsu would be useless, seeing he couldn't use chakra. But he seemed to have a plan. And Naruto's plans in critical situations usually worked.

The blond raised his hands and performed a seal. He concentrated harder. Neji shook his head, confident of his victory. Naruto concentrated harder.

"It's useless."

He concentrated harder.

"Why do you fight against fate so hard?"

And even harder.

Neji activated his Byakugan.

Naruto opened his eyes. "Because… you called me a dropout!"

Everyone's eyes widened. A faint swirl of red chakra circled around Naruto. Soon it became more noticeable.

A strong wind blew in Neji's direction, lifting even some small rocks on the ground. The boy placed his arms in front of his face and took a step back. Naruto's confidence grew as he noticed the Hyuuga's hesitation.

"Let's begin."

The red swirl disappeared and Kyuubi's chakra quickly spread through Naruto's body. In a moment he was standing in front of Neji. In the other he was in the air, aiming shuriken at the Hyuuga.

"Rotation!" Neji yelled, quickly spinning around and creating again the chakra barrier to deflect the weapons.

Naruto connected his feet to the wall and jumped head-on in Neji's direction. This time Neji tried to throw shuriken at the blond, but Naruto quickly moved out of the way and appeared beside Neji. He was so fast that most people could only see a blur when he moved.

Naruto tried to punch Neji's chin, which the Hyuuga barely dodged. Both fighters raised their kunai and threw at each other at the same time. The blades collided and fell on the ground, causing no harm to any of them. They took out another kunai and jumped towards each other. Still, they landed each one on one side of the arena unwounded. Naruto smirked. "You are pretty confident about close combat, right?"

Without giving Neji time to answer he dashed towards him the fastest he could, kunai on hand. Neji raised his kunai own kunai.

"I don't know about the Hyuuga's fate of hatred, but if you think it's impossible, then don't do anything!" The blond yelled as he ran. Neji eyes widened and he spun around for rotation. "After I become Hokage-" the kunai collided and a blinding light issued from their chakra, "-I'll change the Hyuuga for you!"

There was an enormous explosion of blue and red-orange where Naruto and Neji stood. Rocks flew everywhere and the cloud of smoke prevented everyone from seeing anything.

There was a big crater where the two boys once stood and two holes, one on the left, one on the right, big enough to fit them.

Suddenly one arm came out of the left hole. An arm too pale to be Naruto's. Ryoko clenched her teeth as Neji managed to climb out of the hole.

Panting heavily, the boy stepped towards Naruto's hole. As the smoke cleared everyone could see Naruto's unconscious body.

The ground below Neji started to move and without warning Naruto's fist came out of the ground, punching Neji's chin so hard the boy was thrown backwards.

"My body…" Neji murmured, seeming unable to move.

Naruto stepped towards the Hyuuga with a serious look on his face. "You made a Kage Bunshin in that situation?" Neji asked, narrowing his eyes. "Your favorite Ninjutsu, huh? I was careless."

Naruto panted. "I've failed three times in the Academy finals." He told Neji. "Unluckily, the Ninjutsu that was given to the finals was always the one I hated the most. The Bunshin no Jutsu." Neji's eyes widened. "Stop complaining about fate and saying how it can't be changed. You're different from me. You aren't a dropout."

Neji's expression softened as he seemed to consider Naruto's words.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"


	20. Finals: Shikamaru vs Temari

I do own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Otokon was a blast! Lots of hot Asians and great people, made a few friends and lots of goodies from the dealers room!

School is around the corner and I'm cramming work. Double update! Two chapters in one!

Reviwers, Alerters, and Favoriters:

SeCeRtLIfEoFABi0NErD - Wow! *Blush* Thank you very much for such a review. But i'm not all that great! Honestly, I suck! But uoir review made me super happy!

SasukeLuver - ^.^ Thank you for your kind words but i'm sure there are better stories than mine out there! I'm positive that you could write better stories than me!

* * *

"HE WON! NARUTO WON! HE DID IT!" Ryoko yelled pulling the closest person to her in a one arm head lock. Unfortunately, it happened to be Shikamaru.

"I heard it the first time! Can't you let go of me now?"

Ryoko released him and yelled over the railing, "NARUTO, YOU WON!" her cheer was slightly muffled by the crowd's cheers.

They were cheering and clapping. For Naruto. It was unbelievable.

The blond seemed embarrassed for all the attention for a moment, but he soon forgot that, running around happily with his arms up cheering like there was no tomorrow.

After a few blow kisses to the crowd Naruto ran up to the balcony where his friends were waiting for him. Ryoko quickly pulled him into a hug head lock, determined to be the first person to congratulate him for the victory.

"YOU WON!"

"I KNOW! BELIEVE IT!"

"I can't believe you still have energy to yell like this." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "But congratulations anyway."

Naruto's grin widened. "I was so awesome there! Bet no one will be able to have a fight as good as mine! Except for Ryoko!"

"That maybe true, but we have to see if Sasuke can follow up your act." Ryoko said as she looked around for any sign of the blue haired Uchiha.

The crowd was starting to get impatient. Most of them had come there only to see Sasuke's fight and there was still no sign of the Uchiha.

"What's that guy doing?" Shikamaru wondered out loud. "Is he planning not to come?"

"A wise man keeps away from danger." Shino said.

"Then Sasuke must be an idiot." Ryoko said, causing the boys to get curious by my statement. "Cause he would never run away from a battle, especially one against Gaara."

Naruto nodded, "That's right. He'll definitely come."

Another proctor popped in front of Genma and told him something in a hushed tone. By the looks on their faces it seemed to be important. The ninja them vanished in a cloud of smoke and Genma turned to face the infuriated crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen…the fighter for the next match has not arrived just yet. Therefore, this match will be delayed and we will begin the next match first."

Some people yelled in protest, while others were just glad that Sasuke wouldn't be disqualified.

"That was close." Naruto said, letting out a relieved sigh.

Ryoko crossed her arms, "Yeah, but he better get here soon. They won't be nice enough to delay his match again."

"What are we going to do?" Kankuro panicked a little, "Without Sasuke the plan is going to fail. This is starting to look bad."

"Well then do something about it." Akki hissed.

"Wait a minute!" Shikamaru said, sounding alarmed. "Does that mean my match is coming up faster?"

"Yup!" Ryoko said with a grin. "Isn't that great?"

Shikamaru glared at her as Genma announced the next fight.

"Next match is up. Kankuro against Shino Aburame. Come down."

Shino was about to do so, when Kankuro's voice interrupted him.

"Proctor! I'm giving up!"

"Ehhh?" Naruto, Shikamaru and Ryoko chorused.

"I'm giving up!" Kankuro repeated. "Go to the next match."

Again, there were loud protests from the crowd. But Kankuro had made up his mind; there was nothing Genma could do about it.

Instead, he just nodded. "Kankuro has given up. Therefore Aburame Shino wins by default."

The crowd booed in protest.

"Some final this is turning out to be." Akki mutters as Temari opens up her fan, sending strong gusts of wind in all directions. She then jumped on the fan and floated down to the arena.

Genma raised an eyebrow questioningly at her. "And you are?"

"It's my turn, right?" Temari asked, putting a hand on her hip and the other on her now closed fan.

"Looks like you want to do this. Okay, we're going to start the next match. Oy! The other one! Get down here." Shikamaru just stared at the proctor as if he was crazy. Genma insisted. "Shikamaru Nara, it's you!"

"Hey! What's the rush? Why am I always getting shifted in the match schedule, huh?" Shikamaru panicked, "Maybe I should withdraw too…"

"What are you waiting for?" Ryoko questioned placing a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder.

"That's right, Shikamaru! Go get her!" Naruto shouted as he and Ryoko pushed Shikamaru over the railing.

"Yaaahh!" Shikamaru fall on his back on the arena's ground with a loud thud.

"You can do it Shikamaru!"

He stayed on the ground, just glaring at them.

Tired of waiting, several people in the crowd started to throw all types of trash at Shikamaru, such as cans, papers, rests of food and someone even threw a notebook.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Stop fooling around!"

"Yeah, get you're lazy butt up and start the match!"

Temari seemed to have lost her patience as well. "If you're not going to attack, then I will!"

Completely ignoring Genma's yells, "But the match hasn't begun yet!"

Temari dashed towards Shikamaru preparing to strike with her fan. The boy merely pulled out two kunai before she jumped and slammed the fan on him. A large cloud of dust took form, preventing them from seeing a thing. When it cleared, all they saw was Temari's fan nailed into the ground and the girl staring at it with a dumbfounded look. Shikamaru had nailed the kunai on the wall and was hanging up by them, avoiding the fan by inches.

"I don't care if I can't become a Chunin." He said with a shrug. "But a man can't lose to a woman...so I guess I'm in."

Apparently not pleased with the boy's comment, Temari gritted her teeth and swung her fan forward. A gust of wind was sent towards Shikamaru, creating another cloud of dust. Again, Shikamaru wasn't there when it cleared.

Temari smirked, accepting the challenge and shifted her eyes around the arena looking for the boy. It didn't take her long to find him. She spotted Shikamaru hidden behind one of the small trees in one side of the arena, apparently planning his attack.

"Damn it, get moving, Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted.

The lazy boy got up with an unusual smirk on his face.

Temari noticed that and wouldn't give him the chance to attack so easily.

"Wind Scythe!" She swung her fan and created a windstorm way bigger than the last ones. Shikamaru put his arms in front of him in a defensive stance. The wind lift the dust on the ground, making it impossible to see Shikamaru until it dispersed. The boy didn't wait for that to happen. A shadow came out of the cloud of dust towards Temari. The girl gritted her teeth and did several back flips so Shikamaru's jutsu wouldn't reach her. Finally, the shadow stopped. It seemed it couldn't stretch more than that. Temari made a line on the ground to mark the shadow's limit looking pleased with the discovery.

"I see. There's a limit to how you can stretch, shrink and transform your shadow." Shikamaru undid the hand seal, carefully analyzing her words.

"No matter how much you transform or stretch your shadow, you can only stretch it as much as its surface area. Isn't that right?"

The lazy boy smirked. "Correct."

Shikamaru then closed his eyes and brought his hands together in front of him, connecting only his fingers.

Suddenly, Shikamaru's eyes snapped open. A smirk came across his lips. He had a plan.

"Looks like you're a bit more motivated to fight, now." Temari taunted. She then opened her fan and sent another windstorm towards him.

Shikamaru took out a kunai and tried to run to the right, but the wind was too strong. He fell on his butt and reluctantly took out his jacket, leaving only his fishnet shirt.

Temari gritted her teeth one more time. Her patience was at its limit. "How much longer are you going to run? Come out already!"

She used Wind Scythe again, but the result was not as she expected. From the cloud of dust, a kunai came out in Temari's direction. Repressing a gasp of surprise, she jumped aside and used her fan to block another kunai thrown from her left. She turned around just in time to see Shikamaru's shadow stretching towards her.

The Suna girl smirked once she saw she was still behind the limit. Her eyes suddenly widened as she saw the shadow was stretching more than it should.

Temari quickly jumped backwards, alarmed. She was panting by the time the shadow stopped. Raising her head, she glared furiously at Shikamaru.

"Good insight." The boy complimented Temari.

The girl wasn't pleased with the compliment. "So you were killing time to wait for the sun to set and increase the wall's shadow line to increase your shadow's surface area." Temari then gazed the ground and checked the shadow's length and position of the sun. She smirked, confident that that was really the shadow's limit.

"Temari! Above you!" Kankuro yelled, causing us all to look up.

Shikamaru's headband was tied to his jacket and a kunai was tied to it. The jacket floated like a parachute, carried by the wind. It then floated above Shikamaru's shadow and created another one. With that Shikamaru's shadow could stretch even more.

Temari jumped backwards and kept jumping as Shikamaru pursued her fiercely. The girl dodged for quite some time until the shadow stopped again near the hole Naruto had dug in his fight. It started to stretch back and Temari got to her feet.

The girl and Shikamaru glared at her, the former with a victorious smirk.

"So you've dodged this trick too, eh?"

Temari opened her fan and stuck it into the ground so Shikamaru couldn't see her. From where the others were standing, they could see her starting to perform some hand signs. With wide eyes she stopped in the middle of them.

Their eyes widened as well as we turned them to Shikamaru. The boy exhibited a victorious smirk on his face as he separated his hands from the jutsu's seal.

"Shadow possession complete." He stated.

"I'll show you what's behind you." Shikamaru said to a very confused-looking Temari. Slowly he turned his head backwards so Temari could see his shadow stretching out of the hole. The same hole Naruto used to defeat Neji; Shikamaru was now using to defeat Temari.

"That… was all part of his plan…" Ryoko whispered with a dumbfounded look. "He was always thinking one step ahead of his plan and he used the terrain to his advantage." Temari looked incredibly terrified.

Smirking even more, Shikamaru stepped forward. Temari, with her body controlled by the jutsu, had to do the same as him and walked towards the boy.

They stopped only a few steps from each other.

Unconsciously, Ryoko also leaned forward. Naruto clenched one of his fists with a grin on his face. Kankuro gritted his teeth. Akki bit her thumb nail. Gaara stood there with his arms crossed.

Slowly Shikamaru raised his hand. Temari was forced to do the same. The girl shut her eyes closed, trembling.

Shikamaru's expression remained impassive. Finally, he spoke up.

"I lose. I give up."

….

Ryoko blinked in disbelief, "…Tell me he didn't just say that…"

"Whaaat?" Naruto with white wide eyes.

"What did you say?" Temari asked shocked.

Shikamaru sighed. "I used up too much chakra using the Shadow Possession jutsu too many times. I can only hold you for an additional ten seconds. So, I've thought of about 200 possible moves…But time's up." Both of them lowered their hands. "It's too troublesome to do more. One match is good enough for me."

Genma raised his hand, "Winner is Shikamaru Nara!"

"That idiot, why did he give up?" Naruto yelled infuriated. "Now I'm getting mad! I'm going to lecture him!" And before anyone could stop him Naruto jumped down to the arena.

Ryoko sighed. "Better stop him from trying to kill Shikamaru. This would probably get him disqualified." She jumped over the railing and ran after him.

"Moron!" Naruto shouted pointing at Shikamaru.

"Moron yourself." Shikamaru retorted bored.

"Why did you give up?" Ryoko asked, "Besides the excuse you gave."

"That's a matter of the past, now. It's all good." Shikamaru replied lazily.

"No, it's not! You almost won that match!"

"Put that topic aside…"

"And you gave up right before you won…"

"And let's get ready to watch the next match."

"Totally unacceptable and- wait. Next match?"

"It's my match or Sasuke's match…" Ryoko trailed.

The time had come.


	21. Konoha under attack!

I do own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

This one is a little long since i didn't know where to stop...kinda picked a bad place. Could be a cliffhanger, but the rest is coming soon. Just to let ya know that the story is winding down, the next chapter might be the last or the one after that...If Donald, Sora, and Goofy would give me the plot paper i would tell you, but they're going on about being Ansems notes or something. I think they're overdosing on High Potion.

Reviwers, Alerters, and Favoriters: (Think I lost a few, but don't worry, you'll all be mentioned in the credits page!)

leogirl321

Song of my day... One Piece English Intro Opening 3 (Vic sings it ^.^)

* * *

Naruto's eyes widened in realization. For a moment he looked really worried and then excited.

Temari returned to her siblings, "H-hey it's almost time…!"

"Is he really going to come?" Kankuro asked.

"He'll come…" Gaara said, "…I'm sure of it…"

Akki turned to the arena to see leaves blowing abnormally around one spot, "Looks like you could be right about that. Check it out."

Lots of leaves started to slowly fall down in the arena. Their speed suddenly increased and they started to spin around a spot about a foot far from Naruto, Shikamaru, Ryoko, and Genma, creating a small whirlwind of leaves. Two familiar silhouettes slowly appeared inside of it.

As the leaves floated to a stop, everyone could see Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei standing there back to back. Sasuke looked quite different from the last time he had been seen. His front bangs were longer and his outfit was a black T-shirt with the usual Uchiha clan symbol on its back, black shorts and cream-colored armbands.

Kakashi-sensei remained the same as always.

"I'm sorry we're late." He apologized in a rather cheerful tone.

Naruto's face lit up and he grinned. Ryoko allowed a small smile to come to her face.

Genma smirked. "Name?"

Sasuke turned to him repressing a smirk. "Sasuke Uchiha."

Almost immediately the public gave loud cheers. The person they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

The proctor gave the Uchiha a small nodded. "I think we can move on to his match. The next match shall start immediately. Gaara of the Desert, please come down."

Ryoko turned to Naruto and Shikamaru, "We better get out of the way."

Reluctantly Naruto nodded. He turned to Sasuke.

"Don't even think about losing! I still want to fight you!" He declared pointing to him.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"Sasuke?"

He turned to face Ryoko.

She grinned and thrusted her fist to him, "Take him down, you can do it!"

Sasuke nodded.

"Alright, let's go. And this time we're taking the stairs." Shikamaru said as he started towards the stair that leads to the upper gallery where the others are.

"Oh, come on! You're still not mad are you?" Naruto asked as he followed Shikamaru.

"He can't be. He has to forgive us for giving him a _gentle _nudge." Ryoko smirked.

"Gentle nudge…whatever." Shikamaru sighed as they climbed the stairs, "My neck still hurts from the fall."

"Oh just be thankful you didn't land on your…" She trailed off when she noticed Naruto's strange behavior. He was looking between the rails on the steps. Shikamaru and Ryoko kept their heads low to see what Naruto was looking at between the bars. Their breath was halted when they saw Gaara walking out of the bloody massacred hallway. Each of his agonizing slow steps echoed in their ears as he walked closer and closer to them and to their shock, descended down the stairs without a word or glance at them.

When the roar of the crowd sounded in their ears they dropped onto the steps with heavy sighs of relief.

"Ah…that was close!"

"If we had been here sooner, we would've been those two."

"Sasuke better watch his back out there with that guy…yikes."

"But why didn't he kill us?" Ryoko wondered, "At the hospital that's what he wanted."

"Because we're not good enough..." Naruto answered, "He wants Sasuke…

Ryoko stood up, "We better tell Kakashi-sensei…"

"There they are!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing to a place on the bleachers where Sakura, Ino, Lee, Choji, Kakashi-sensei and Gai were sitting.

"Hey." Kakashi-sensei greeted waving his hand lazily.

"Kakashi-sensei! You've got to stop this match!" Naruto pleaded, "That Gaara guy – he likes to kill others!"

"Naruto's not exaggerating on this." Ryoko said, "And as much faith I have in Sasuke, this guy is beyond blood lust! Sasuke will die if this continues!"

Kakashi was unmoved by their concern, "Don't worry. There was a reason why we were so late…"

Gaara was kneeled on the ground, panting, with his sand surrounding him. His face and left arm had some cracks, which indicated Sasuke had succeeded on hitting him. The Uchiha was standing some meters far from Gaara panting only a little with his Sharingan activated.

"Whoa."

"Sasuke-kun's got an amazing speed now and attacks just like Lee's!" Sakura told them gleefully. "He managed to crack some parts of Gaara's sand armor easily!"

Gaara glared murderously at Sasuke and got to his feet. The Suna boy performed a seal which made the sand engulf in a kind of weird sand ball.

Not wasting time, Sasuke dashed towards Gaara, in a speed that could rival Lee's, aiming a punch at the sand shield. The moment his hand connected to the shield, several sand thorns came out of it. It was pure luck that they didn't pierce through Sasuke's body. A hit from any of them would have been a critical one. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized that. He jumped backwards breathing heavily now. Everyone could see small droplets of blood falling from his knuckles and another from his cheek, indicating the thorns had scraped him. The sand thorns retreated as soon as Sasuke took distance from them, leaving only the plain sand shield. His leg started to bleed slightly too.

"All of the sand has encased his body." Lee said sounding concerned and amazed.

Suddenly some of the sand rose into the air and started to spin slowly, forming a small ball of sand. When all the particles of sand gathered together, the ball turned white into an eye. The same eye Gaara used during the first exam.

Sasuke wiped the blood off his cheek and launched towards the sand shield again. He pulled out three kunai and threw them, but they were immediately deflected as they touched the sand. Sasuke jumped to behind the shield and punched its surface again. The sand thorns came out and stretched more this time, making Sasuke jump backwards to avoid them. The thorns continued to chase him until he jumped farther.

The Uchiha's stare narrowed as he concluded none of his usual moves would break Gaara's defense.

Sasuke molded chakra to his feet and jumped high to the wall, kneeling vertically on it. When he felt stabilized, the Uchiha started to perform hand signs that no one had seen before. Finally, Sasuke brought his right hand down and waited, looking very focused.

Out of nowhere, a blue sparks appeared on Sasuke's hand

Ryoko's eyes widen, "Kakashi-sensei. Isn't that-?"

Sensei nodded. "I trained Sasuke because he is similar to me."

"I see." Gai said, "That's why you made him master hand-to-hand combat moves to dramatically increase his speed."

Kakashi-sensei smiled happily. "Correct."

"W-what is that?" Naruto stammered.

"It's making a lot of noise." Sakura noticed. "What is that move?"

"Just a straight thrust." Gai said emotionlessly. "But it's Konoha's number one technique specialist, the Copy Ninja Kakashi's only original move. It's a secret move for assassination purposes. Its secret lies in the speed of the thrust and the activation of the body to generate a large amount of chakra. Then he concentrates that large amount of chakra into the thrusting arm. And because of the incredible speed he moves at, it emits a distinct chirping sound similar to a thousand of birds chirping."

As Gai spoke, Sasuke charged closer to the sand shield. The sand thorns came out one more time and the Uchiha dodged them.

"That's why that move is called-"

Sasuke raised his arm with the intent to strike.

"Chidori." Gai finished.

Sasuke thrust his arm into the sand shield. The lightning pierced easily through the sand, to everyone's amazement. Sasuke panted a little with his arm inside Gaara's defense and a smirk on his face.

"Chidori… Also called Lightning Edge." Gai said in a nostalgic tone.

"Lightning Edge?" Sakura asked.

"That's the alias it took because Kakashi once cut through lightning with that move." Gai turned to Kakashi. "But you've taught him a reckless move."

"I don't want to hear that from you." Kakashi-sensei leans towards Lee. "Right, Lee?"

Gai glared at sensei with flames in his eyes.

Sasuke hadn't moved from his position, except that now he had a frown on his face. Gaara still hadn't reacted from his attack. What happened to him?

A loud scream echoed through the entire stadium. "BLOOD! MY BLOOD! I'M BLEEDING!"

Everyone's eyes widened. Sasuke's eyes also widened and he tried to pull his arm back, but it was stuck on the sand. He tried harder, gathering chakra on his arm and creating smaller lightning sparkles. When Sasuke managed to take his arm out something came out too.

It kind of looked like an arm, but it was much more different than one. It had the same color as the sand, as if it was made of it, with some purple lines and claws instead of fingers. It could stretch much further than a normal arm. It was like the arm of a monster.

Sasuke took his arm out of the sand arm's grip and held it, repressing a wince of pain. The sand arm stretched back into the shield. Sasuke stared at it with a shocked look, eyes widened to their most.

"GAARA!" Akki screamed.

Suddenly, the sand shield started to crack. It dissolved, falling to the ground. Gaara stood in the middle of the sand clutching his left shoulder where the Chidori had apparently hit him. It was bleeding, but his eyes were locked on Sasuke with a murderous glare. It was the same look he had when the others met him in the hospital…the look of someone who was ready to kill.

Out of nowhere several white feathers fell upon everyone in the arena causing everyone to feel drowsy. One by one many people began to fall asleep, including Ino, Choji, Lee, Shikamaru, Naruto, Ryoko, and Sakura.

Shaking it off enough, Kakashi, Gai, Ryoko, and Sakura pulled made a similar hand seal.

"Release!"

Ryoko and Sakura took the situation in, "What's going on here?"

Suddenly an explosion emerged from the middle of the central bleacher where the Hokage and the Kazekage were. Several ANBU came out of nowhere and dashed towards it.

"What's that?" Ryoko yelled pointing to the roof top where the Kage's were.

Everyone looked to see a black square barrier resting on top of the roof

"A barrier technique, eh?" A jounin wondered.

"They're not normal ninja if they have outmaneuvered ANBU members." Another jounin said.

A man wearing a coat and an ANBU mask appeared in front of the two sensei's, blocking their way to the arena.

"What are you doing?" Gai asked. "Lord Hokage is in danger!"

The man didn't answer. He made a seal and almost immediately four Sound ninjas jumped to his side.

Gai frowned. "I didn't expect the enemy to be disguised as an ANBU member. Was he the one who used the Genjutsu?"

"Yeah." Kakashi nodded. "There's no doubt about it."

"The operation has begun!" Kankuro said jumping over the rail with Temari and Akki.

Akki quickly ran to Gaara's side, "Gaara hang in there."

Baki appeared next to the Sand sibling, "The plan is starting!"

Genma appeared before Sasuke, "You're not going anywhere."

Akki grew worried as Gaara doubled over in pain holding his head.

"What's wrong with him?" Kankuro asked.

Akki placed her hands on Gaara's shoulders, "He's fighting the possession. He won't be able to do the mission and he's wounded!"

"Then what do you want us to do?" Kankuro barked at her, "You want us to go ahead without Gaara?"

Akki glared at him, "Gaara's hurt you selfish pig! I'm more worried about him than the plan!"

Baki growled, "Idiot! I can't believe he would try to undergo complete possession without waiting for the signal!" Baki took in the situation around him, seeing the Gaara was in no condition he came to a conclusion that even he didn't like, "I'm calling it off!"

Kankuro and Temari looked at him with shock.

"You three take Gaara and withdraw for now!"

"What about you, Sensei?" Temari asked.

"I'm going to help fight. Go!" He ordered.

Akki grabbed Gaara's arm and wrapped it around her shoulder and wrapped her other arm around his waist and hoisted him up.

"Yes sir!" They jumped away and over the wall, leaving Genma and Baki and Sasuke behind.

"Hey! What's going on?" Sasuke asked Genma.

Genma's face grew grim, "Sorry, but the Chunin Exam is over. You go after Gaara and the others, right now!" He ordered.

(May I point out that he looked very sexy in panel 1 page 140 volume 13?)

"You're already at Chunin level. If you consider yourself a Konoha Shinobi, do something useful…"

Without much of a word Sasuke took off after the sand siblings.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi-sensei wondered when he saw Sasuke jump over the arena wall.

"Kakashi, look closely inside the barrier!" Gai said.

When Kakashi looked his face paled considerably and his eyes widen, "Orochimaru!"

Ryoko's head snapped up, "Orochimaru?"

Then suddenly two sound ninja jumped towards Ryoko and Sakura holding two kunai. Sakura screamed and ducked while Ryoko pulled out her kunai.

In a flash, Kakashi-sensei appeared in front of them and took out both of the ninjas at once

"Ryoko. Sakura. Stay low for a while…I'll go think out the enemy ranks." He said with a smile.

Ryoko was about to protest when Sakura pulled her arm down, causing her to lost balance and fall to the floor. Two more Konoha Jounin appeared and joined the fight while Kakashi-sensei and Gai easily defeated the enemies.

"Sakura, Ryoko." Kakashi-sensei called. "Dispel the Genjutsu and wake up Naruto and Shikamaru."

Ryoko nodded "Let's go, Sakura." Sakura nodded and crawled behind Ryoko.

"Proceed with caution." Sensei warned. "This is an A Rank mission."

Sakura stiffened at his words. "Sensei!" Sakura yelled. "What do you mean by an A Rank mission in this situation? What are we supposed to do?"

As Kakashi spoke to Sakura, Ryoko made her way over to Naruto and Shikamaru keeping mind to keep her head low and jounin ninja fight left and right over her head.

"Listen, Sasuke went after Gaara and the others. Wake up Naruto and Shikamaru and go after Sasuke." He brought his kunai closer and made a small cut on his thumb.

"But if that's the case, I should wake Ino and Choji and go in a bigger group." Sakura argued.

"There are already many sand and sound ninjas inside the village. Movement with more than five people, a basic platoon, will result in a decrease in swiftness and it will become more difficult to conceal yourselves from the enemy. You learned that in the patrol exercises in the Academy, correct?"

"Yes." Sakura said. "Since we're moving with five people, are you going to come with us, sensei?"

"No, I can't leave this place." He said, performing some hand seals. He brought one of his hands down and pressed it against a random guy's back. "Art of Summoning!"

Kakashi moved his hand and when the smoke cleared a small brown pug dog with a blue cape and Konoha's headband on its head was revealed.

"Pakkun here will chase after Sasuke through his scent." Kakashi-sensei informed. Sakura stared at the dog in disbelief. "This little doggie our other teammate?" She inquired. Pakkun hopped towards Sakura until his face was only a few inches from hers.

"Hey, little girl. Don't call me 'a cute doggie'."

"I didn't say 'cute'." Sakura remarked.

"Okay, now go dispel the Genjutsu from Naruto and Shikamaru." Sensei instructed.

Sakura kneeled down beside Naruto and dispelled the illusion.

The blond stirred and slowly got up, rubbing his eyes. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

"I'll tell ya later!" She grabbed his head and forced him to stay down.

Ryoko moved towards Shikamaru and prepared to do the release when she noticed that Shikamaru was faking. Pakkun made his way over and chomped down on Shikamaru's ankle, successfully awaking the lazy shinobi.

"Why were you pretending?" Ryoko asked calmly yet irritation was in her voice.

"I don't want to get involved in this." The boy replied pulling Pakkun's face, "I'm not doing this. I don't care about Sasuke."

Naruto looked around with a dumbfounded look, trying to register exactly what was happening. Suddenly, a Sound ninja appeared behind him with a kunai.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled in terror.

But before the Sound nin could strike, Gai appeared in a green blur and elbowed him to the wall behind Naruto.

The ninja's eyes widened. "F-fast…"

"I'm not just fast." Gai said with a smirk. He punched the guy's stomach with so much strength that he opened a big hole on the wall.

"I'll explain your mission now." Kakashi-sensei said, jumping in front of them, "Once I've finished the explanation, go through that hole. Go after Sasuke, and once you meet up with him, stop him. Then await further orders in a safe area."

Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Pakkun nodded and jumped through the hole.

* * *

"I see, so that's what happened." Naruto nodded after we explained to him and Shikamaru the whole story with more details. They were running through the woods, where Pakkun had managed to catch Sasuke's scent.

"So why did I get sent out here? It's such a drag!" Shikamaru complained.

"We couldn't help it!" Sakura snapped. "Those were Kakashi-sensei's orders."

"How long will it take for us to catch up?" Naruto questioned.

"I don't know." Pakkun said. "He's moving pretty fast."

"That figures…" Ryoko sighed swinging on a branch to get more altitude with the others, "He did get a head start during all the commotion."

They kept gliding from tree branch to tree branch for like hours. Pakkun suddenly sniffed and turned to the others.

"Hey guys, increase your speed."

"We're closer now?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No. A total of eight people are behind us. Wait, I sense another one. So nine guys are coming after us."

"And the good news just won't stop coming…" I mumbled sarcastically.

"Already?" Shikamaru exclaimed. "You've got to be kidding. This is bad. If they catch up with us we'll be annihilated." Shikamaru said pessimistically.

"Then we should stop and ambush them!" Naruto suggested.

"It won't work." Pakkun said. "They're ninjas from Konoha's former shinobi, Orochimaru." Ryoko eyes narrowed.

"Darn it." Shikamaru cursed. "I thought we might have a chance, but I guess not…"

"Why?" Sakura asked. "The enemy's level doesn't matter when you're ambushing them."

"You don't understand, do you?" The genius boy asked. "It's true that ambushing is a really advantageous basic tactic, but to pull it of there are two conditions you must meet. First, you've got to move noiselessly and discover the enemy first. Second, we must secure a location to catch the pursuers off guard, inflict critical damage to them and quickly conceal ourselves in that location. Once we're able to fulfill those conditions, an ambush becomes a valid tactic. As we have a ninja, finding their location is pretty easy. As for the second condition, we're at advantage since this is our village and we know the terrain better."

"So it won't work because…?" Naruto asked, wanting him to go straight to the point.

"Orochimaru has been to Konoha before. If we're dealing with his men, that method won't work. On top of that, they're all ninjas that have most likely mastered the art of pursuing." Ryoko summed.

"So they'll be expecting an ambush." Sakura concluded.

Shikamaru nodded, "Furthermore, the enemy is a squadron organized specifically for this plan. As for us, we have an idiot," he looked at Naruto, who growled, "a kunoichi who has no special traits," he glanced at Sakura, who glared at him, "a good ninja, but completely hotheaded," he gestured to Ryoko, "a dog, and the number one coward, me. A strategy is devised by understanding the situation, a creating the best plan for it. So there's only one thing we can do."

"And what is that, genius?" Ryoko asked.

"A feint operation that looks like an ambush. One person will stay behind, set up things to look like an ambush and stop them."

"Play the decoy?" Sakura asked.

"No way!" Ryoko cuts off. "That would be suicide!"

"I know." The lazy boy stated calmly. "But if the person can stop them, they won't be able to get the location of the other four."

In sync, everyone stopped on some tree branches. The five of them stared down without saying a word.

"So, who wants to take the job?" Shikamaru finally asked. "We need the dog to look for Sasuke."

Ryoko clenched her fists. "I'll-"

"The only choice left is me." Shikamaru interrupted with a bored sigh.

"Nani?" Naruto yelled.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It's better than being annihilated." The lazy boy remarked.

"But-"

"Also, the only guy who can pull off this decoy perfectly and have a right chance of surviving within this group is me."

"But you ca-"

"The Shadow Possession Jutsu was originally made to stop the enemy anyway."

"Will you let me finish-"

"Ryoko. You can't stay behind. _You_ have to stop Sasuke. You're part of his team, like Naruto. I already said I don't care about him. You three have to do it."

"I still don't think you should-"

"I'll catch up with you guys later."

And with that, he jumped off.

"We're counting on you, Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted, hoping the boy heard him. The blond turned to the remaining group. "Ryoko, Sakura, let's go."

Sakura nodded and they began following Pakkun again. Ryoko looked back over her shoulder to the direction Shikamaru had run off. _'Just don't die…'_

* * *

Pakkun started sniffing again some time later. "The enemy is getting closer and closer."

"Nani?" Sakura gasped. "Did Shikamaru…?"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Naruto said confidently.

Sakura didn't look convinced. "How can you be sure?"

"Shikamaru may be lazy and rather take a nap but he will do something he sets his mind to when he's motivated enough."

Naruto nodded. "He rarely does things on his own, but when he does he'll do it all the way."

Sakura's gaze fell down, as if she was trying hard to believe in their words.

"The pursuers have stopped." Pakkun said suddenly.

"Yes! He succeeded in stopping them!" Naruto cheered.

"It must be Shikamaru!" Sakura said.

* * *

"How's Gaara doing?" Kankuro asked Akki as they glided through the trees.

Akki glanced at Gaara's face briefly before focusing back on where she was going, "He's paler than normal…his breathing is shallow…" She panted, "…but for now I think he's alright…"

"If he's getting too heavy for you, I'll take over…" Kankuro suggested noticing his teammate fatigue.

Akki growled, "I'm more worried about what's ahead of us." She came to a stop. Kankuro and Temari stopped as well when they saw that Sasuke Uchiha had caught up to them.

Although slightly out of breath Sasuke managed a smirk, "You're not getting away."

* * *

"Sasuke has stopped!"

Naruto's face lit up, "Alright!"

"We have quite a distance to him, though."

"It's okay." Ryoko said. "This means he's caught up with Gaara."

Pakkun's eyes suddenly widened, "This scent…"

He stopped on a branch and the others did the same as him.

"What's wrong?" Naruto inquired.

"Did something happen to Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

Pakkun shook his head. "I didn't notice until now, but," He turned to Sakura, "you use the same shampoo as me."

(I had to include this part! XD I couldn't stop laughing for many reasons: A dog using human shampoo, Kakashi giving his dogs a bath, and Sakura smelling like a dog!)

"But my hair is much glossier." Pakkun added. Sakura looked like she was about to faint.

"Don't bring up something stupid like that in such a serious situation!" Naruto scolded, crossing his arms unhappily.

"Yeah! We've wasted time" Ryoko grabbed Sakura by the back of her collar, "Sakura snap out of it and let's go!"

"I smell like a dog… I smell like a dog…."

"Uh… Sakura?" Naruto called in a concerned tone.

Ryoko sighed with irritation, "Yes, you smell like a dog! Now get your butt into gear and let's get Sasuke!"

* * *

Kankuro pulled Crow off his back, "Temari, Akki, take Gaara and go on ahead!"

Temari and Akki nodded and continued on.

"I suppose I have no choice but to fight you." Kankuro said.

"No! I will be your opponent"

A new voice called, causing Kankuro and Sasuke to stand at alert. From behind a nearby tree, Shino Aburame revealed himself.

"Shino?" Sasuke asked, "What are you doing here?"

Without looking at him, Shino pointed to Sasuke, "Before you left the arena, I planted a female beetle on you and had my male beetles follow the scent."

Kankuro grew nervous at the odds that were against him.

"Sasuke Uchiha…chase after Gaara…you haven't completed your match yet…I'll fight this one…especially since he was supposed to be my opponent to begin with."

Sasuke didn't move for a moment.

"Let him to me." Shino insisted, "Go!"

"…you sound pretty confident, but…are you sure about this?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't need your concern. Give me 10 minutes and I'll come help you."

Sasuke smirked and turned away, "Hn…I'll be done by then too." Then he flash stepped away.

* * *

Meanwhile many miles away…

Akki tried desperately to get as far away as she could as she carried Gaara. She grew steadily more concerned as Gaara twitched and shook even more.

"Is Gaara alright?" Temari asked.

"I'm worried about his wound." Akki told her, "But I think he's coming to…"

Slowly Gaara opened his eyes, "…Akki…let me down…"

Obeying him, Akki came to a stop on a thick enough branch to hold her and Gaara. Temari came to a stop next to them, "Gaara?"

"Ugh!" Gaara jerked and held his head in pain.

"It's been awake inside Gaara since his match…" Temari whispered fearfully, "This is bad, it's just the two of us now. We can't handle it by ourselves…"

Akki was at a loss of what to do. "Gaara…"

"Temari…Akki…get away from here…" Gaara rasped turning around.

"What?"

Gaara growled and swapped Temari away, "You're in the way!"

The force of Gaara's hit sent Temari flying into another tree. The force of the impact temporarily knocked her out cold.

"Gaara!" Akki pleaded grabbing Gaara's shoulder to stop him from moving, "You're wounded. You shouldn't move."

Gaara growled and punched her across the face, "Get out of my face you stupid fool!"

Just as Temari, Akki went flying into a tree base. Wincing she sat up, "Gaara…"

Gaara growled when he saw Sasuke standing in a tree above him.

"I don't know what you Sand shinobi are plotting, but I'm going to stop you!"

Gaara flinched and held his head as his pain returned. Slowly his sand armor began to crack and fall away.

"Besides…" Sasuke continued, "I want to see what you really are…"

"You who are strong…who are called Uchiha…who have friends…and have a purpose…just like me…" The cracks on Gaara's face turned to purple like veins that steadily grew as he spoke, "By killing you… I'll erase all of that…and I'll truly exist…and I can feel alive!" Gaara doubled over again.

* * *

Meanwhile a few trees away…

Pakkun sniffed one more time. "This is…"

"Do you smell shampoo again?" Naruto asked irritated.

"No, it's Sasuke. There are other scents near him, as well. We've caught up."

A smirk of determination spread across Naruto's lips.

"They've stopped completely. It seems like they're about to fight."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"That doesn't matter since our mission is to bring Sasuke back, no matter if we have to fight or not." Ryoko said as she charged ahead.

Sakura raised her head and nodded, trying to look more confident.

"He's there!" Naruto called pointing forward.

The scene before us was unbelievable. Sasuke was there lying on a branch, stirring as he tried in vain to move. When they looked more closely, they saw his body was covered with the curse marks. He had a frustrated look on his face.

Gaara, however, was the most incredible sight. His right arm had turned into a monstrous sand claw. The right side of his face was consumed by the sand and a sand ear like a cat's popped from his head. His right eye was completely black except for a yellow iris and the right side of his mouth had fangs instead of teeth. There was also a sort of sand tail coming out of his gourd.

His face had become wild, like a predator's after chasing down its prey. That was exactly how he looked at Sasuke. And it was with that look that he jumped to attack him.

Naruto and Ryoko glanced at each other and nodded in sync. As though they had planned everything, they jumped from their branch and aimed a kick to Gaara's face when the boy was only a few inches from Sasuke.

Gaara was sent flying backwards, breaking branches until he hit a tree's trunk. Naruto landed on one branch and Ryoko on another.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed as she jumped to the branch and kneeled beside the Uchiha.

"What the heck happened here?" Ryoko questioned without taking her eyes of Gaara, who was glaring at Naruto and Ryoko with a killing intent.

"I can't… use Chidori more than… twice a day," Sasuke managed to say.

"You're in no condition to fight anymore anyway." Ryoko told him.

"Hey…" Pakkun called their attention, "I'm not a battle type dog so don't count on me."

"We figured out that much!" Ryoko and Sakura yelled.

"You are… those guys I tried to kill," the Suna boy said in a dry tone.

Naruto and Ryoko involuntarily stiffened. They recalled the day at the hospital as Gaara's words echoed in their minds. _'I fight only for myself… and love only myself... As long as there are people to kill in this world… I will not cease to exist.'_

Suddenly, Naruto turned back to Sakura and Sasuke with a terrified look.

"We're going to run, everyone!"

It was in that moment of distraction that's he attacked.

Gaara jumped past Naruto and aimed his sand claw to Sasuke with a guttural scream. "Die, Sasuke Uchiha!"

Then to everyone's surprise…Akki jumped in front of Sasuke and Sakura using her giant boomerang as a shield to fend off Gaara's claw. "Gaara! You have to stop!"

Gaara flinched and held his head. No one was prepared for Gaara's sand tail to whip around Akki's defense and attack Sakura full on, pinning her to a tree.

"Sakura!" Naruto and Ryoko yelled at the same time.

"Gaara! Stop this!" Akki begged.

Gaara's eyes widened at Akki and he hesitated for a small second. Then he shoved her away with his claw.

"Get out of my way!"

The dark haired girl let out a small wince of pain as the claw pinned her down, before falling into unconsciousness. For a moment Gaara forgot about Sasuke, just glaring at her. "You're always getting in the way!" He winced as another throb came to his head, "Why?" Soon flashes of memory clouded his mind…

* * *

(Flash back time!)

In the Village hidden in the Sand…it was a stormy afternoon and Gaara was getting home from the terrible event at the park with Yashamaru.

"Gaara, I have a guest over today so please be on your best behavior." Yashamaru said kindly to Gaara as he guided Gaara to the living room.

"A guest?" Little Gaara asked standing next to a table with a photo resting in top of it.

Yashamaru nodded and went to get his guest so that Gaara could meet them. "Wait here."

Gaara stared at the women in the picture before he took the knife off the table and held it a few inches over his wrist. When he made a move to cut himself sand hovered over his wrist, keeping the blade from cutting through. "…It's still useless…the sand protects me…"

"Lord Gaara…?"

Gaara turned around to see Yashamaru and a girl with long dark brown hair that went mid way to her back.

"Please do not engage such behavior like that…even if the sand protects you…"

Gaara frowned with guilt, "Yashamaru…I'm sorry…your wound…does it hurt?"

Yashamaru touched the wound on his forehead, "Oh this? Well, just a bit. But it's only a small scratch. It'll heal in no time."

The room grew quite before Gaara spoke again, "What does it mean to hurt? I've never been injured before so I was wondering what if felt like…"

Yashamaru scratches his head unsurely, "I don't know how to explain it…it's kinda painful…kinda unbearable…I can't really describe it, but it's no fun, believe me."

Gaara looked as though he understood something, "Then…I could be hurt too? Just like everyone else…" He gripped his shirt where his heart rested, "It always hurts here…it doesn't bleed, but it hurts right here…"

Without a word the young girl walked towards Gaara. She took the knife out of his hand and slightly cuts her finger with it. Both Yashamaru and Gaara were shocked by her action. "Akki…"

Akki showed Gaara her blooded cut, "If you bleed then I'll bleed too…Your pain is my pain…I'll hurt for you so you don't have to hurt…"

Gaara was awe struck by Akki's declaration.

Yashamaru chuckled, "Now, Akki…you don't have to take it that far. While it is your duty to be at Gaara's aide, you also have to be his friend." He patted her head lightly, "So, no dying…" He crouched down to their level, "…both of you…"

From that night on, Akki remained at Gaara's side. She followed him to a little boy's house so he could deliver some ointment only to see the door be slammed in Gaara's face. She continued to follow the saddened Gaara through Suna even when he sand attacked a drunken man and killed him. She even followed him to a lone roof top to look at the moon. It wasn't until when Gaara cried that she made a move to comfort him as best as a five year old girl could.

"Why…? Why am I a monster…?" He whimpered.

Akki frowned, "You're not a monster…"

Gaara looked at her through tear stained eyes, "What…?"

"Monsters have funny looking faces like this!" She pulled at her face in attempt to make a face funny enough to make Gaara smile.

He cracked a small smile.

"Sometimes they have ugly looking faces like this…" She pulled on her face to give it a skinny longed faced look.

Gaara giggled a bit.

"A besides…monsters live in closets and under beds because they're homeless and can't afford boxes." Akki explained to him with a little laugh in her voice.

Feeling a little better, Gaara laughs with her.

However their laughter was short lived when several kunai hurtled at them from behind. Fortunately Gaara's sand protected them and retaliated by pinning the offending sand shinobi to the wall of the roof, severely injuring them.

Fearfully, Akki and Gaara approached the poorly masked Shinobi. With a shaking hand Gaara pulled the wrap from the Shinobi's face and the identity of the ninja stunned them both. Yashamaru…

When Gaara realized that it was Yashamaru, he was horrified. He screamed and cried over the possible betrayal of his uncle. "Why…? Why Yashamaru…? You were the only one…who ever loved me…"

Despite his injury, Yashamaru spoke, "It was an order…from your father Lord Kazekage…" Yashamaru explained the whole reason to Gaara of why he attacked and told him that he had willingly accepted the mission. Having never truly loved Gaara, Yashamaru hoped that killing Gaara would avenge the death of his sister. In a last effort to kill Gaara, Yashamaru detonated a number of exploding tags covering his body, asking Gaara to "please die". Using his sand as a shield Gaara had survived the blast and lost the only person he thought had cared for him. Because of the emotional overload, Gaara's sand went out of control and etches the kanji for love onto his forehead and from then on he swore that he would love himself and only himself.

Akki watched on helplessly as the once timid Gaara turned cold.

* * *

Gaara clutched his head and growled, looking as if he had an enormous migraine.

"What's wrong? I thought you were going to run!"

Naruto's eyes shifted first to Sakura and then to Sasuke. Gaara mimicked his stare with a sort of frustrated expression.

"These two… what are they to you?"

"They are our friends!" Naruto answered confidently.

"If you even think about hurting them anymore, you'll regret it until the day you die!" Ryoko threatened, pointing a finger to him.

Gaara gritted his teeth at their responses. Accepting the challenge, he pressed his sand claw against Sakura, causing the girl to release a high-pitched scream.

Gaara smirked. "What's wrong? I thought you were going to make me regret it."

"Let's do it, Ryoko!" Naruto yelled, jumping towards Gaara with the look of determination back to his face. Ryoko followed him, fists raised.

With a swing of his tail, Gaara threw them back to the branch. As her back hit the branch, she felt blood coming up to her mouth. Without thinking twice, she coughed it.

"Ryoko! You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some internal bleeding." Ryoko joked as she wiped the blood off her mouth, "No problem…"

Gaara let out a monstrous laughter. "So you fight for another," he concluded. "That's why you guys are so weak! You don't need a reason to fight." Their glare at him intensified. "Only the winner can feel the value of his existence. Now, forget about your stupid friends and fight only for yourselves."

"What about Akki?" Ryoko questioned, "She fought to protect you! Isn't she your friend?"

"People who bring unnecessary emotions into battle deserve to die."

"Now it's for real! We _will_ beat you up!" Naruto yelled immediately.

They jumped at him again with their kunai just to be sent flying back by his tail.

Gaara chuckled, "What happened? Don't you care what happens to your important friends?" he mocked, pressing the claw against Sakura tighter.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled.

Ryoko gritted her teeth, _'This won't work if we keep attacking head on like this... We needed to free Sakura…but how do we get around Gaara's sand? He has the complete advantage over close range and long range…that stupid sand…maybe if we keep attack at different angles…we might find a weak spot…only one jutsu to cover that…'_

Ryoko raised her hands to start the Shadow clone jutsu, but Naruto stopped her.

"I got a plan." Naruto told her, "This is going to use up a heck of a lotta chakra but…" Naruto made several rapid hand seals that Ryoko couldn't recognize, "…It's time to bring in the Chief Toad!"

"Chief Toad…?"

Naruto bit his thumb, so it bled a little and then he placed the thumb on the branch, "Summoning Jutsu!"

A small cloud of smoke appeared on the branch. Those who were conscious waited with anticipation as to what Naruto had summoned. When the smoke cleared it revealed a small orange frog with a blue cape like Pakkun's.

"Uh…"

"What is it? What do you want, kid?" The little frog asked, "Well. Whatever it is I hope you brought along some treats. Because if you think I'm doing anything for nothing you're wrong!"

Naruto's eyes turned white with rage, "Oh give me a break! I'm really starting to hate you stinking frogs!"

"Oh ho ho! Anti-amphibian, huh?" The little frog asked, "Well take that you bug bigit!" The little frog stuck out his tongue and spit in Naruto's face.

"Listen…I don't have time to play games you slimy little squirt!"

"Why did you summon him? This isn't the time to be messing around!" Ryoko yelled.

"I didn't plan on summoning him! I wanted the boss frog!" the blond snapped.

"Are you done?" Gaara's mocking voice asked. Their eyes widened when they turned to him. His face had been completely consumed by the sand, now. There were no human features of Gaara left besides his red hair and Kanji symbol. Then, right before of their eyes the sand began spreading through the rest of his body not leaving a mere inch uncovered. He sand of his right arm came off of the claw without releasing Sakura and another one emerged in its place.

"The sand on the girl won't be released until you defeat me," he said. "Not only that, the sand will constrict her tighter as time passes by and will eventually kill her."

"We've got to do something!" Ryoko panicked.

"Sand Shuriken" Gaara yelled swinging both arms, creating several sand shuriken.

Ryoko jumped to a higher branch and Naruto grabbed the little frog before jumping out of the way. They landed safely another branch away from Gaara.

"Wow, boy, are you two pathetic" the frog pointed out.

Both Ryoko and Naruto growled, "Shut up."

"But who is that?" He pointed to Gaara.

Now even the red hair had disappeared. He was completely unrecognizable.

"This is the demon he talked about," Naruto whispered in astonishment.

"The demon locked inside him…" Ryoko stared into his eyes, "Naruto…look at his eyes…"

Naruto did and realized, "The same eyes…the eyes of loneliness and suffering…just like me…when I found out that I had a demon inside me…everyone hated me and acted as if it was my fault…that made it worse…but then a few people came along…Iruka-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, and Ryoko…they paid attention to me…that made it better…I was happy again…they made me feel happy to be alive."

"Naruto…this guy has been there…in that same darkness…" Ryoko murmured, "with no one but Akki to be there for him…but he still turned out this way…"

"Can we really beat a guy like this?" Naruto asked.

"What's wrong?" Gaara taunted. "Are you afraid of me? You two were so bold and cocky before! Show me your strength and let me grind it into dust before your very eyes!"

"Naruto, let's take him down!" Ryoko yelled.

Naruto and Ryoko jumped from the branch again, performing the same hand seal,

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The clones popped in the air beside them and they descended on another frontal attack on Gaara. Gaara smirked and opened his mouth to inhale deeply and as he arched his back, several fanged mouths opened on his body, taking in air as well, "Wind Style: Sand Storm Devastation!"

Gaara's body exhaled a wild storm of sand. The sandstorm was strong enough to make all of their clones vanish.

"He blew them all away…" Naruto panted, "Not good…"

"N-Naruto…we've got to do something to stop this guy."

Strength slowly returned to Naruto as he regained his balance, "I think I've got a plan…"

* * *

Naruto ending dialouge:

"Alright! Anyone who has ever doubted me, anybody who thought I was joking when I said I'd be the next Hokage…well sit back, shut up, and watch! Cause I'm about to give this guy a demonstration!"

"A demonstration of what?" Ryoko asked, "He's creaming us!"

"He's about to see out best work! Transformation Jutsu, Summoning Jutsu, Shadow Clone Jutsu, You name it! They don't call me the hyper active knuckle headed ninja for nothing!"

"Oh I think they call you that for something!" Ryoko chided.

"He won't know what hit him when we get through with him!"

"You're saying 'we' a lot, are you going to drag me into this? There's no way I'm getting on top of a giant toad!"

"Next time! Naruto and Ryoko's Ninja Handbook! Believe it!"


	22. All out battle!

I do own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Alright my awesome people! After this there are possibly two more chapters plus an epilouge and nonsense! Also, if anyone wants more, I'm thinking about remaking one of the movies...maybe two if I'm bored enough. Whatcha think? Don't worry everyone, it's not over...We still have the Shippuden Arc! Plus a possible fluff between Sasuke and Ryoko! ^/^

Reviwers, Alerters, and Favoriters: (Think I lost a few, but don't worry, you'll all be mentioned in the credits page!)

Princess Kitana18

ToshiroHitsugayagirlfriend – Thanks for loving it!

Yachiru Hatake – Glad I'm still doing an awesome job! ^.^ It's all thanks to everyone's support.

Mikkiz – My story loves you too. :3

the one who loves pickles

leogirl321 – Thanks for supporting Akki and Gaara.

Jennku – I understand with the school work, I'm about to go back. T.T

SasukeLuver – You're too nice! I'm sure there are other good authors out there.

* * *

"Hey, Ryoko…" Naruto whispered.

Ryoko looked at Ryoko, "Yeah?"

"Do you have an exploding tag?"

Ryoko reached into her pouch and pulled out an exploding tag and gave it to Naruto. He pulled out a kunai and wrapped the exploding tag around the handle.

"Ryoko…I'm going to need some cover…"

Ryoko nodded with a smirk and created four shadow clones.

"Ready?"

Ryoko nodded and kicked off the branch after Naruto.

"Get ready for the ultimate secret Taijutsu! Naruto and Ryoko's…CLONE BODY SLAM!"

Gaara smirked wickedly as he swung his sand claw. Three of her clones created a small wall to absorb the impact and to protect Naruto.

"Okay! Let's do it!" Ryoko and Naruto yelled. In mid air Ryoko grabbed the real Naruto and flung his at a faster speed to get to Gaara. As Naruto flew over Gaara's sand arm, he created his own clone to absorb Gaara's next claw. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto flew over Gaara's head and floated upside down behind Gaara, "And another…Shadow Clone jutsu!" He created a clone to catch him and jump off of as he went for Gaara again.

"Take this! Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu…straight from the teachings of Kakashi-sensei…" He stabbed the kunai at the base of Gaara's sand tail, "…A THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"

(…Insert awkward pause…)

Gaara turned his head and looked over his shoulder, "Hn…?"

Naruto looked puzzled for a moment before Gaara's tail slammed into the side of his face. Ryoko broke free from her clones to catch Naruto only to absorb Naruto's impact from being hit in mid air.

"…boom…" Naruto whispered enough for Ryoko to hear.

The exploding tag exploded creating a violent shock wave that sent Naruto and Ryoko further back in the air on course to a tree behind him.

Ryoko held Naruto close and prepared for a painful impact. But surprisingly Sasuke used his body to soften their impact.

"Hey!" Naruto yelped in surprise. "You okay?"

"No…" Ryoko winced, "Could you get off me?"

Naruto slid off them so Ryoko could get off Sasuke.

"All of that work…and you only scored one blow?" Sasuke asked them.

Naruto looked away from him, "Ehh! Put a sock in it!"

Ryoko looked at Gaara who was slowly recovering from the explosion. He lost a lot of sand on his right side, but she couldn't tell if they wounded him or not.

"Ryoko…" Sasuke said with a deadly serious look in his face. "… Naruto...I want you two to save Sakura…if it's the last thing you do…"

"You care about her that much…" Ryoko asked sarcastically, "What do you think Naruto and I have blowing ourselves up for, because we like to?"

Sasuke ignored her sarcasm, "…And once you have her I want you all to flee as fast as you can..." He started to get up with difficulty. "I can buy you some time… If it ends here it will mean that this is as far as I was meant to go...I lost everything once…I never want to see that again. I never want to see anyone important to me die in front of me again."

Their eyes widened. Because Sasuke thought they were really going to leave him behind and let him fight alone and that he was asking them to do it. He was ready to sacrifice himself even when he was badly injured. Just like before.

Naruto and Ryoko came to the same conclusion in there thoughts... no. That was not going to happen again. This time, Sasuke would just sit down and watch as they fought. They wouldn't leave Sasuke. They would save Sakura and beat Gaara. Sasuke wasn't the only one who didn't want to see a friend dying again. They promised Haku they would get stronger. And they would protect all of their friends.

Naruto's hands balled into fists and he slowly got to his feet. Ryoko did the same using the tree's trunk for support. The blond then clasped his hands together, performing a seal.

"We won't let anything happen to any of our friends," Ryoko said slowly, performing the same seal.

"We'll protect you and Sakura no matter what," Naruto vowed.

"And protect each other."

"Believe it!"

Naruto gathered a large burst of Chakra that was so strong was so strong that blew leaves of the trees away. And although she could gather as much chakra as him Ryoko still managed to pull off, "Multi shadow clone jutsu!"

The whole area was engulfed by a big white cloud of smoke. The smoke began to slowly disperse and everyone was shocked to see hundreds of clones both Naruto's and Ryoko's covered every inch of the trees around them and Gaara positioned in a fighting stance.

"They're pretty good," the small frog said from some branches above us, sounding amused. Naruto smirked and pointed forward at Gaara, who looked around with a staggered face.

"What the…? How could they summon so many clones?"

"How could you do this…?" Sasuke whispered beside them.

"Oy, Sasuke," Ryoko called, turning to him with a small smile. "Just rest now. Leave it all to us!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Ryoko winked, "Don't worry, you're going to need your strength in case we fall…"

"You've got to be kidding!" Temari gasped.

Aki couldn't help but stare wide eyed as well, "Where do they get all this power? No matter how many times they get knocked down, they get up again…"

Naruto pointed to Gaara, "Alight! Let's do this!"

All the clones jumped at once, "Direct from…Naruto and Ryoko's…Ninja Handbook!" Ryoko's clones grabbed Shuriken and threw them at Gaara, "Shuriken!"

The boy hesitated, not knowing how and which side he should attack first in the near last moment he used his only sand arm to defend and catch the shuriken.

He left himself open on the sides and Naruto's clones took the advantage. Ryoko's clones made room for Naruto's clones to do their wave of attack.

"Na! Ru! To!" They kicked Gaara in the air, "2k! Uzumaki Barrage!"

The relentless assault sent Gaara flying off of the branch.

"From Ryoko and Naruto's Handbook!"

Sand flew from Gaara's body as their fists connected to it. Lots of sand around the Gaara's body started to dislodge in several places, where their punches had hit, and Gaara fell crushingly to the ground with a loud thud. (In the English dub, when he fell, it sounded like dishes breaking…)

Naruto, Ryoko, and the clones jumped down, preparing for another assault not noticing the stare in Gaara's eyes. Suddenly he seemed extremely murderous again.

"There's no way I'm going to lose to them!" He roared.

Before they could react, sand shot towards the sky, destroying all of the clones in its path. Ryoko and Naruto managed to catch themselves during the sudden attack. They looked through the smoke to see what had happened. A large dark silhouette with a curled tail appeared in the smoke.

As the smoke began to disappear everyone's eyes widen and their jaws dropped slightly at what had emerged.

Shukaku resembles a sand-colored tanuki with dark blue markings all over its face, body, and tail, and has a jagged mouth. Its eyes are black, containing yellow iris with pupils that each takes a shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it.

"That's… the monster inside of him?" Naruto asked in a dazed voice.

"It's…huge…" Ryoko said in awe.

"Shukaku…" Aki whispered.

"It's the perfect possession…" Temari whispered fearfully.

Shukaku raised his arm and Naruto felt something brushing against his leg. Startled, he looked down and saw trails of sand starting to surround him. They caught his legs and arms in a flash and, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free. The same was happening with Ryoko.

"Naruto! Ryoko!" Sasuke yelled. He was about to rush in to help but his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

The sand engulfed both fighters in a sand cocoon. The sand tightening around their body as Shukaku slowly tried to crush them to death.

"This is the end for the both of you…" Gaara said almost closing his fist, "…Sand buri…"

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

The cocoon sand dispersed and two huge clouds of smoke appeared side by side.

When the smoke cleared a giant red toad with a smoking pipe wearing a blue jacket and sword on his side appeared with Naruto standing on top of its head. Next to the giant red toad was a large cream colored cat with red eyes and red striped marking on its legs.

"Woah, Ryoko! I had no idea you could do something like this!" Naruto yelled.

Ryoko smiled back at Naruto, "Same to you! I only thought you could summon little toads!" Ryoko yelled back.

Naruto crossed his arms with a confident smirk, "All those hours of training are finally paying off! This will be a breeze!"

"What the…?" The giant toad said in an apathetic toned voice. He looked up to see Naruto on his head, "Not you again…what is this…? Huh…?" He looked ahead to see Shukaku sitting across the way lazily waving his tail, "Well, would you look at that...Shukaku the Sand spirit…"

"Well, what do you say? Will you fight along side me today, Chief Toad?" Naruto asked with a wide grin.

The large toad blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth and answered bluntly, "…Take a hike…"

"NANI?" Naruto yelled, his eyes turning white wide.

"Why go out of my way to mess with a guy like him?" The toad asked, "What am I an idiot?"

"Why? Are you kidding me?" Naruto yelled hitting the top of the toads head, "You already told me you would make me your henchmen didn't you? It's only natural that a boss would want to help out their henchmen, isn't it? Don't you have any sense of duty?"

"Naruto, are you okay over there?" Ryoko called over.

"Yeah, sure, I already said I'd make you my henchmen, but we haven't even sealed the deal yet have we?" Chief Toad asked.

Naruto grabbed his head in frustration, "Oh, give me a break! I'm not old enough to make any kind of deal yet! What's the matter with you?"

The little frog from before bounced on Naruto's head, "Aw, come on, pops, don't be like that. Why don't you just settle down and hear the kid out?"

"Huh? Pops?" Ryoko and Naruto asked.

"And just what do you think you're doing here. Gamakichi?" Chief Toad asked in a fatherly voice.

"I had nothing else to do…" The little frog excused, "I just came to hang out."

"You're father and son?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Ryoko looked at the toads, "Well, they kind of look alike…"

"They're frogs! All the frogs look alike!"

"By the way, pops! That big ugly lug over there was picking on me before!" Gamakichi yelled, pointing to Shukaku.

Gamabunta's eyes narrowed viciously at this, "Come again…?"

"Oh, yeah...and when he did…these two came to my rescue." Gamakichi explained, "They went head to head with that monster. There's a lot more to them than meets the eye."

"Is that right…?" The Chief Toad said in a deep voice. Glaring at Shukaku with intensity, Gamabunta raised his left hand and pulled out a giant sword out of its sheath. "Alright, kid. I officially accept you as my henchmen. I'll show you what duty is all about."

Ryoko stood ready on her companion's head, "Are you ready, Ryoki?"

Ryoki bristle her fur before standing ready next to Gamabunta.

"You're going to pay for what you did," Gamabunta told Shukaku in a threatening tone.

Out of blue, Gamabunta dashed forward with his sword raised in an incredible speed. Naruto and Gamakichi were almost thrown off completely from the sudden attack.

"Hang on tight!" the Chief Toad yelled.

Gamabunta jumped high and swung his sword down towards Shukaku. The sand raccoon's reaction was too slow and he couldn't dodge the blow. His right arm was cut off and it immediately dissolving into sand. Gamabunta landed behind Shukaku, dropping his sword not too far from them. Shukaku turned his head to face us with a murderous glare. Several clouds of dust and broken trees around the two giant animals had been completely destroyed.

"If you don't be careful the landscape is going to start changing around here." Ryoki advised standing at the ready for a command.

"Hey, chief hold on a second!" Naruto called, pointing forward. "Don't go over in that direction! Sakura is over there! Try and lure him over here if you can."

"Sakura?" Gamabunta questioned, mildly interested.

Gamakichi chuckled, raising his pinky. "It's his little girlfriend."

"Don't worry Naruto! Ryoki and I got it covered over here!" Ryoko called over to him.

Gamabunta chuckled.

"You're really interesting… Naruto Uzumaki and Ryoko Koneko!" Shukaku yelled.

Temari's eyes widen in fear, "Oh no! He's going to do it! I've got to get out of here!" She turned around and flashed jumped away.

Aki slowly got to her feet with the help of her weapon, "N-no…Gaara don't do it…" She fastened her weapon to her back and flashed step over to the giant creatures.

They watched closely as the sand on Shukaku's forehead started to tremble. It looked as though something was to come out of there. And something actually did. Gaara slowly began to appear from out of Shukaku's forehead. When the sand got to his waist he hung there limply.

"To thank you for entertaining me today," Gaara's voice echoed as he slowly lifted his head. "I'll show you the true power of the manifestation of the sand!"

"What's wrong with him?" Ryoko asked out loud.

Next to her, Aki descended next to her. "He's being possessed…" Aki explained slightly out of breath.

"What are you doing here? It's not safe." Ryoko told her.

Aki's eyes never left Gaara, "I'm sorry, but I have to help. I can't do much, but I have to help you guys stop Gaara from undergoing perfect Possession."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Ryoko asked.

"Those rings under his eyes…" Gamabunta muttered out loud. "That medium must've been possessed by Shukaku. There are symptoms of insomnia showing."

"Insomnia?" Naruto asked.

"Those who get possessed by Shukaku are unable to sleep at night. If that person falls asleep, the Shukaku will slowly eat the person's personality and the person will no longer be himself…" Aki explained.

"While the medium is awake, Shukaku's true powers are limited. But if the medium falls asleep…" Gamabunta trailed off.

Gaara performed a hand seal, "Play Possum Jutsu…" Gaara's eyelids slowly shut closed and his arms fell immobile on his side.

"What's going on? Nothing happened!"

Aki reached for her weapon, "That's Play Possum Jutsu…it's puts the user to sleep."

"He's done it," Gamabunta said.

"What's going to happen?" Naruto asked.

"A whole lot of things if we don't do something right now." Aki answered, "We _have_ to get Gaara to wake up!"

Shukaku raised his head and let out a loud kind of scream, "I'm finally free!" Shukaku yelled delighted, "Here I come, baby!"

(On the Naruto wiki Shukaku is described as cunning but also incoherent, giving it the demeanor of a drunkard, which fits the typical depictions of Tanuki in Japanese folklore. A weird opposite of Gaara)

"That's the Shukaku?" Naruto asked giving Aki a quizzical look.

"Man, that is one funky demon." Gamakichi replied.

"I hope you're ready to die!" Shukaku announced, pointing to them, after letting out another scream.

Gamabunta took the pipe out of his mouth, "I'm gonna jump." He warned Naruto.

"EH?"

"Wind Style…" Shukaku inhaled, expanding his stomach, "…Air Bullet!" He slammed his stomach releasing a powerful burst of air.

With quick reflexes, Gamabunta and Ryoki jumped out of the way in time.

Gamabunta made a hand seal, "Water Style: Liquid Bullet!"

A water ball was fired against Shukaku and collided against his air ball, making the two of them stop in the middle of the way. The Chief Toad landed and jumped again, blocking more of Shukaku's air balls with Air Bullets.

"Dodging isn't enough!" Ryoko yelled angrily.

"Then what do we do?" Naruto questioned.

"We have to wake up Gaara for one!" Aki yelled when Gamabunta landed.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Naruto snapped.

"Just fire off a few rounds at him!" Gamabunta snapped.

The Chief Toad dodged one more air bullet and landed in front of Shukaku. He immediately used his webbed hands to grab the raccoon's shoulders and prevent him from moving. Now Naruto was close enough to hit Gaara, "Now's your chance!"

Shukaku realized what they were trying to do and moved back causing Chief Toad to lose his balance.

Quickly, Gamabunta jumped away at a safe distance.

"Hey, Chief, you're going to have to keep a grip on him if you want me to get a clear shot in!" Naruto complained.

"Ehh! My body doesn't have any claws or horns to dig into the enemy with!" Gamabunta snapped.

"Huh?"

"Chill out, brat!" the Chief Toad said, "We'll use the transformation jutsu to transform into something that we need! But then again, I'm not good at Transformation."

"HUH?"

(I liked these parts in the anime because I found it hilarious how often Naruto's voice cracked.)

"Don't worry!" Ryoko yelled, "We'll go first and get a hold of him! Once we got him, Naruto you do your thing!"

"Alright! Here we go!"

Ryoki charged in first. Her quick agility caught the Shukaku off guard.

"AAHHHH!"


	23. And so it comes to pass

I do own a Gaara plushie and a few Naruto DVDs and lots of the Manga. Unfortunately i don't own the actual thing. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Alright my awesome people! After this it's the end of Arc one part one! Also, if anyone wants more, I'm thinking about remaking one of the movies...maybe two if I'm bored enough. Whatcha think? Don't worry everyone, it's not over...We still have the Shippuden Arc! Plus a possible fluff between Sasuke and Ryoko! ^/^

Reviwers, Alerters, and Favoriters: (Think I lost a few, but don't worry, you'll all be mentioned in the credits page!)

Princess Kitana18

ToshiroHitsugayagirlfriend – Thanks for loving it!

Yachiru Hatake – Glad I'm still doing an awesome job! ^.^ It's all thanks to everyone's support.

Mikkiz – My story loves you too. :3

the one who loves pickles

leogirl321 – Thanks for supporting Akki and Gaara.

Jennku – I understand with the school work. I don't want to be a Senior anymore! T.T

SasukeLuver – You're too nice! I'm sure there are other good authors out there.

Princesa de la Luna – Thank you very much for your very many reviews that got me all the way up to the 100th review mark. It was always my goal and you made it possible. Beyblade is undergoing modifications and will be continued shortly.

MetalHeadMunchies09 – Thanks for adding!

Deathcomessoon – Thanks for adding!

Persiii – I don't think I plan on stopping anytime soon. Sure haters would want to kick my ass but those who actually like my stories will kick my ass even harder, so I'll continue just for my little fans out there! ^.^

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper – Wow! I'm honored to be the first! Whoop! There goes my ego! XD! Thanks so much for your review! It's greatly appreciated

* * *

"Hey, Ryoko…" Naruto whispered.

Ryoko looked at Ryoko, "Yeah?"

"Do you have an exploding tag?"

Ryoko reached into her pouch and pulled out an exploding tag and gave it to Naruto. He pulled out a kunai and wrapped the exploding tag around the handle.

"Ryoko…I'm going to need some cover…"

Ryoko nodded with a smirk and created four shadow clones.

"Ready?"

Ryoko nodded and kicked off the branch after Naruto.

"Get ready for the ultimate secret Taijutsu! Naruto and Ryoko's…CLONE BODY SLAM!"

Gaara smirked wickedly as he swung his sand claw. Three of her clones created a small wall to absorb the impact and to protect Naruto.

"Okay! Let's do it!" Ryoko and Naruto yelled. In mid air Ryoko grabbed the real Naruto and flung his at a faster speed to get to Gaara. As Naruto flew over Gaara's sand arm, he created his own clone to absorb Gaara's next claw. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto flew over Gaara's head and floated upside down behind Gaara, "And another…Shadow Clone jutsu!" He created a clone to catch him and jump off of as he went for Gaara again.

"Take this! Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu…straight from the teachings of Kakashi-sensei…" He stabbed the kunai at the base of Gaara's sand tail, "…A THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"

(…Insert awkward pause…)

Gaara turned his head and looked over his shoulder, "Hn…?"

Naruto looked puzzled for a moment before Gaara's tail slammed into the side of his face. Ryoko broke free from her clones to catch Naruto only to absorb Naruto's impact from being hit in mid air.

"…boom…" Naruto whispered enough for Ryoko to hear.

The exploding tag exploded creating a violent shock wave that sent Naruto and Ryoko further back in the air on course to a tree behind him.

Ryoko held Naruto close and prepared for a painful impact. But surprisingly Sasuke used his body to soften their impact.

"Hey!" Naruto yelped in surprise. "You okay?"

"No…" Ryoko winced, "Could you get off me?"

Naruto slid off them so Ryoko could get off Sasuke.

"All of that work…and you only scored one blow?" Sasuke asked them.

Naruto looked away from him, "Ehh! Put a sock in it!"

Ryoko looked at Gaara who was slowly recovering from the explosion. He lost a lot of sand on his right side, but she couldn't tell if they wounded him or not.

"Ryoko…" Sasuke said with a deadly serious look in his face. "… Naruto...I want you two to save Sakura…if it's the last thing you do…"

"You care about her that much…" Ryoko asked sarcastically, "What do you think Naruto and I have blowing ourselves up for, because we like to?"

Sasuke ignored her sarcasm, "…And once you have her I want you all to flee as fast as you can..." He started to get up with difficulty. "I can buy you some time… If it ends here it will mean that this is as far as I was meant to go...I lost everything once…I never want to see that again. I never want to see anyone important to me die in front of me again."

Their eyes widened. Because Sasuke thought they were really going to leave him behind and let him fight alone and that he was asking them to do it. He was ready to sacrifice himself even when he was badly injured. Just like before.

Naruto and Ryoko came to the same conclusion in there thoughts... no. That was not going to happen again. This time, Sasuke would just sit down and watch as they fought. They wouldn't leave Sasuke. They would save Sakura and beat Gaara. Sasuke wasn't the only one who didn't want to see a friend dying again. They promised Haku they would get stronger. And they would protect all of their friends.

Naruto's hands balled into fists and he slowly got to his feet. Ryoko did the same using the tree's trunk for support. The blond then clasped his hands together, performing a seal.

"We won't let anything happen to any of our friends," Ryoko said slowly, performing the same seal.

"We'll protect you and Sakura no matter what," Naruto vowed.

"And protect each other."

"Believe it!"

Naruto gathered a large burst of Chakra that was so strong was so strong that blew leaves of the trees away. And although she could gather as much chakra as him Ryoko still managed to pull off, "Multi shadow clone jutsu!"

The whole area was engulfed by a big white cloud of smoke. The smoke began to slowly disperse and everyone was shocked to see hundreds of clones both Naruto's and Ryoko's covered every inch of the trees around them and Gaara positioned in a fighting stance.

"They're pretty good," the small frog said from some branches above us, sounding amused. Naruto smirked and pointed forward at Gaara, who looked around with a staggered face.

"What the…? How could they summon so many clones?"

"How could you do this…?" Sasuke whispered beside them.

"Oy, Sasuke," Ryoko called, turning to him with a small smile. "Just rest now. Leave it all to us!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Ryoko winked, "Don't worry, you're going to need your strength in case we fall…"

"You've got to be kidding!" Temari gasped.

Aki couldn't help but stare wide eyed as well, "Where do they get all this power? No matter how many times they get knocked down, they get up again…"

Naruto pointed to Gaara, "Alight! Let's do this!"

All the clones jumped at once, "Direct from…Naruto and Ryoko's…Ninja Handbook!" Ryoko's clones grabbed Shuriken and threw them at Gaara, "Shuriken!"

The boy hesitated, not knowing how and which side he should attack first in the near last moment he used his only sand arm to defend and catch the shuriken.

He left himself open on the sides and Naruto's clones took the advantage. Ryoko's clones made room for Naruto's clones to do their wave of attack.

"Na! Ru! To!" They kicked Gaara in the air, "2k! Uzumaki Barrage!"

The relentless assault sent Gaara flying off of the branch.

"From Ryoko and Naruto's Handbook!"

Sand flew from Gaara's body as their fists connected to it. Lots of sand around the Gaara's body started to dislodge in several places, where their punches had hit, and Gaara fell crushingly to the ground with a loud thud. (In the English dub, when he fell, it sounded like dishes breaking…)

Naruto, Ryoko, and the clones jumped down, preparing for another assault not noticing the stare in Gaara's eyes. Suddenly he seemed extremely murderous again.

"There's no way I'm going to lose to them!" He roared.

Before they could react, sand shot towards the sky, destroying all of the clones in its path. Ryoko and Naruto managed to catch themselves during the sudden attack. They looked through the smoke to see what had happened. A large dark silhouette with a curled tail appeared in the smoke.

As the smoke began to disappear everyone's eyes widen and their jaws dropped slightly at what had emerged.

Shukaku resembles a sand-colored tanuki with dark blue markings all over its face, body, and tail, and has a jagged mouth. Its eyes are black, containing yellow iris with pupils that each takes a shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it.

"That's… the monster inside of him?" Naruto asked in a dazed voice.

"It's…huge…" Ryoko said in awe.

"Shukaku…" Aki whispered.

"It's the perfect possession…" Temari whispered fearfully.

Shukaku raised his arm and Naruto felt something brushing against his leg. Startled, he looked down and saw trails of sand starting to surround him. They caught his legs and arms in a flash and, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free. The same was happening with Ryoko.

"Naruto! Ryoko!" Sasuke yelled. He was about to rush in to help but his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

The sand engulfed both fighters in a sand cocoon. The sand tightening around their body as Shukaku slowly tried to crush them to death.

"This is the end for the both of you…" Gaara said almost closing his fist, "…Sand buri…"

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

The cocoon sand dispersed and two huge clouds of smoke appeared side by side.

When the smoke cleared a giant red toad with a smoking pipe wearing a blue jacket and sword on his side appeared with Naruto standing on top of its head. Next to the giant red toad was a large cream colored cat with red eyes and red striped marking on its legs.

"Woah, Ryoko! I had no idea you could do something like this!" Naruto yelled.

Ryoko smiled back at Naruto, "Same to you! I only thought you could summon little toads!" Ryoko yelled back.

Naruto crossed his arms with a confident smirk, "All those hours of training are finally paying off! This will be a breeze!"

"What the…?" The giant toad said in an apathetic toned voice. He looked up to see Naruto on his head, "Not you again…what is this…? Huh…?" He looked ahead to see Shukaku sitting across the way lazily waving his tail, "Well, would you look at that...Shukaku the Sand spirit…"

"Well, what do you say? Will you fight along side me today, Chief Toad?" Naruto asked with a wide grin.

The large toad blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth and answered bluntly, "…Take a hike…"

"NANI?" Naruto yelled, his eyes turning white wide.

"Why go out of my way to mess with a guy like him?" The toad asked, "What am I an idiot?"

"Why? Are you kidding me?" Naruto yelled hitting the top of the toads head, "You already told me you would make me your henchmen didn't you? It's only natural that a boss would want to help out their henchmen, isn't it? Don't you have any sense of duty?"

"Naruto, are you okay over there?" Ryoko called over.

"Yeah, sure, I already said I'd make you my henchmen, but we haven't even sealed the deal yet have we?" Chief Toad asked.

Naruto grabbed his head in frustration, "Oh, give me a break! I'm not old enough to make any kind of deal yet! What's the matter with you?"

The little frog from before bounced on Naruto's head, "Aw, come on, pops, don't be like that. Why don't you just settle down and hear the kid out?"

"Huh? Pops?" Ryoko and Naruto asked.

"And just what do you think you're doing here. Gamakichi?" Chief Toad asked in a fatherly voice.

"I had nothing else to do…" The little frog excused, "I just came to hang out."

"You're father and son?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Ryoko looked at the toads, "Well, they kind of look alike…"

"They're frogs! All the frogs look alike!"

"By the way, pops! That big ugly lug over there was picking on me before!" Gamakichi yelled, pointing to Shukaku.

Gamabunta's eyes narrowed viciously at this, "Come again…?"

"Oh, yeah...and when he did…these two came to my rescue." Gamakichi explained, "They went head to head with that monster. There's a lot more to them than meets the eye."

"Is that right…?" The Chief Toad said in a deep voice. Glaring at Shukaku with intensity, Gamabunta raised his left hand and pulled out a giant sword out of its sheath. "Alright, kid. I officially accept you as my henchmen. I'll show you what duty is all about."

Ryoko stood ready on her companion's head, "Are you ready, Ryoki?"

Ryoki bristle her fur before standing ready next to Gamabunta.

"You're going to pay for what you did," Gamabunta told Shukaku in a threatening tone.

Out of blue, Gamabunta dashed forward with his sword raised in an incredible speed. Naruto and Gamakichi were almost thrown off completely from the sudden attack.

"Hang on tight!" the Chief Toad yelled.

Gamabunta jumped high and swung his sword down towards Shukaku. The sand raccoon's reaction was too slow and he couldn't dodge the blow. His right arm was cut off and it immediately dissolving into sand. Gamabunta landed behind Shukaku, dropping his sword not too far from them. Shukaku turned his head to face us with a murderous glare. Several clouds of dust and broken trees around the two giant animals had been completely destroyed.

"If you don't be careful the landscape is going to start changing around here." Ryoki advised standing at the ready for a command.

"Hey, chief hold on a second!" Naruto called, pointing forward. "Don't go over in that direction! Sakura is over there! Try and lure him over here if you can."

"Sakura?" Gamabunta questioned, mildly interested.

Gamakichi chuckled, raising his pinky. "It's his little girlfriend."

"Don't worry Naruto! Ryoki and I got it covered over here!" Ryoko called over to him.

Gamabunta chuckled.

"You're really interesting… Naruto Uzumaki and Ryoko Koneko!" Shukaku yelled.

Temari's eyes widen in fear, "Oh no! He's going to do it! I've got to get out of here!" She turned around and flashed jumped away.

Aki slowly got to her feet with the help of her weapon, "N-no…Gaara don't do it…" She fastened her weapon to her back and flashed step over to the giant creatures.

They watched closely as the sand on Shukaku's forehead started to tremble. It looked as though something was to come out of there. And something actually did. Gaara slowly began to appear from out of Shukaku's forehead. When the sand got to his waist he hung there limply.

"To thank you for entertaining me today," Gaara's voice echoed as he slowly lifted his head. "I'll show you the true power of the manifestation of the sand!"

"What's wrong with him?" Ryoko asked out loud.

Next to her, Aki descended next to her. "He's being possessed…" Aki explained slightly out of breath.

"What are you doing here? It's not safe." Ryoko told her.

Aki's eyes never left Gaara, "I'm sorry, but I have to help. I can't do much, but I have to help you guys stop Gaara from undergoing perfect Possession."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Ryoko asked.

"Those rings under his eyes…" Gamabunta muttered out loud. "That medium must've been possessed by Shukaku. There are symptoms of insomnia showing."

"Insomnia?" Naruto asked.

"Those who get possessed by Shukaku are unable to sleep at night. If that person falls asleep, the Shukaku will slowly eat the person's personality and the person will no longer be himself…" Aki explained.

"While the medium is awake, Shukaku's true powers are limited. But if the medium falls asleep…" Gamabunta trailed off.

Gaara performed a hand seal, "Play Possum Jutsu…" Gaara's eyelids slowly shut closed and his arms fell immobile on his side.

"What's going on? Nothing happened!"

Aki reached for her weapon, "That's Play Possum Jutsu…it's puts the user to sleep."

"He's done it," Gamabunta said.

"What's going to happen?" Naruto asked.

"A whole lot of things if we don't do something right now." Aki answered, "We _have_ to get Gaara to wake up!"

Shukaku raised his head and let out a loud kind of scream, "I'm finally free!" Shukaku yelled delighted, "Here I come, baby!"

(On the Naruto wiki Shukaku is described as cunning but also incoherent, giving it the demeanor of a drunkard, which fits the typical depictions of Tanuki in Japanese folklore. A weird opposite of Gaara)

"That's the Shukaku?" Naruto asked giving Aki a quizzical look.

"Man, that is one funky demon." Gamakichi replied.

"I hope you're ready to die!" Shukaku announced, pointing to them, after letting out another scream.

Gamabunta took the pipe out of his mouth, "I'm gonna jump." He warned Naruto.

"EH?"

"Wind Style…" Shukaku inhaled, expanding his stomach, "…Air Bullet!" He slammed his stomach releasing a powerful burst of air.

With quick reflexes, Gamabunta and Ryoki jumped out of the way in time.

Gamabunta made a hand seal, "Water Style: Liquid Bullet!"

A water ball was fired against Shukaku and collided against his air ball, making the two of them stop in the middle of the way. The Chief Toad landed and jumped again, blocking more of Shukaku's air balls with Air Bullets.

"Dodging isn't enough!" Ryoko yelled angrily.

"Then what do we do?" Naruto questioned.

"We have to wake up Gaara for one!" Aki yelled when Gamabunta landed.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Naruto snapped.

"Just fire off a few rounds at him!" Gamabunta snapped.

The Chief Toad dodged one more air bullet and landed in front of Shukaku. He immediately used his webbed hands to grab the raccoon's shoulders and prevent him from moving. Now Naruto was close enough to hit Gaara, "Now's your chance!"

Shukaku realized what they were trying to do and moved back causing Chief Toad to lose his balance.

Quickly, Gamabunta jumped away at a safe distance.

"Hey, Chief, you're going to have to keep a grip on him if you want me to get a clear shot in!" Naruto said.

"Ehh! My body doesn't have any claws or horns to dig into the enemy with!" Gamabunta snapped.

"Huh?"

"Chill out, brat!" the Chief Toad said, "We'll use the transformation jutsu to transform into something that we need! But then again, I'm not good at Transformation."

"HUH?"

(I liked these parts in the anime because I found it hilarious how often Naruto's voice cracked.)

"Don't worry!" Ryoko yelled, "We'll go first and get a hold of him! Once we got him, Naruto you do your thing!"

"Alright! Here we go!"

Ryoki charged in first. Her quick agility caught the Shukaku off guard.

"AAHHHH!"

"Now!" Everyone yelled when Ryoki had a strong hold on Shukaku. Naruto and Aki quickly nodded and jumped in Gaara's direction.

"Rise and shine!" Naruto yelled punching Gaara in the jaw and Aki followed the punch.

Drops of blood fell from the Gaara's mouth from the punches. Naruto and Aki landed on and started to skid down its forehead. Aki grabbed her boomerang and stabbed it into Shukaku's head to stop from sliding. When she saw Naruto still sliding she quickly grabbed him to stop him.

Gaara's eyes snapped open and the Shukaku's movements ceased. He glared at them with vast fury. Returning the glare Naruto launched towards him fists tightened.

Aki anticipated sand moving towards Naruto as he charged ahead towards Gaara. She unstuck her weapon and swung it against the offensive sand to protect Naruto.

"I will kill you all," he stated simply. "I will not cease to exist!"

Aki stopped, "Gaara you don't have to kill to exist!"

Gaara growled at her, "You've betrayed me…I'll kill you first and then Naruto Uzumaki!" Gaara commanded an onslaught of sand to attack Aki in several directions. Overwhelmed she was struck in the stomach with such force that it knocked her off Shukaku's head.

"Aki!" Naruto yelled.

"I got her!" Ryoko yelled, having Ryoki catch Aki before she plummeted any further, "Do it, Naruto! It's all you!"

Naruto nodded and clasped his hands together, closing his eyes. Gaara's eyes narrowed at him, but there was no way he could tell what the blond was doing. Naruto let out a loud cry and soon he was engulfed by red orange chakra! Powerful chakra waves were sent in all directions, opening Naruto's jacket and blowing his headband away. Naruto opened his eyes with a determined expression plastered on his face. Kyuubi's chakra still formed a flame around him. The blond glared fiercely at Gaara.

"Get ready you crazy monster!" Naruto yelled. Naruto jumped towards the Suna boy with a fist aimed to his face.

"Die!" Gaara yelled using sand to trap Naruto inches from striking him; however Naruto still struggled to get his punch in.

"I- I've…" Naruto growled as he strained to pull his fist back, "I've had it with you!"

Naruto's head collided against Gaara, making a loud crack.

Everyone was surprised when they witness such a bold move. Blood trickled down their foreheads from the devastating impact.

More crack sounds reached their ears. As Gaara's jutsu wore off the Shukaku's body slowly turned to sand again causing both Naruto and Gaara to slowly fall.

"Unbelievable…" Aki whispered in awe, "He stopped Gaara…"

Gamabunta and Gamakichi vanished without a trace from over exhaustion. The cloud of smoke send strong gusts of wind blowing in all directions. The gust sent Gaara and Naruto into trees parallel from each other.

"It's not over until one delivers the final blow…" Ryoko said frowning, wishing the fight would already stop since both fighters were clean out of chakra and energy.

Slowly both Gaara and Naruto got to their feet and stared each other down. When the Toad's sword disappeared (I think he realized he forgot it.) they jumped at the same time with their fists raised. As they grew closer together, Gaara delivered the first punch, however his grew short as Naruto struck the winning blow. Together they fell through the trees. Gaara fell on his back and Naruto landed on his stomach not too far from Gaara.

"Is it alright for us to interfere now?" Aki asked quietly.

Ryoko nodded and beckoned Ryoki to let them down near the fallen fighters. Ryoki carefully walked to where Naruto was using his chin to get to Gaara. Carefully, Ryoki lowered her head for Aki and Ryoko to slide off.

"No! Stay away!" Gaara cried to Naruto as he inched closer.

Aki ran over to Gaara and placed a hand on his head, "Its okay Gaara. He can't hurt you any more even if he wanted to." Aki said gently as if talking to a wounded child, "Relax."

After petting Ryoki goodbye, Ryoko joined Naruto's side, "Okay, bro, I think you've done enough damage. You can rest."

Naruto moved his head slightly, "But, what about Sakura?"

At that moment, Sasuke dropped down to their side, "Sakura's going to be alright." He informed them, "The sand crumbled away. She's free."

Naruto sighed tiredly, "Ah…that's a relief…" He turned his head and closed his eyes.

Ryoko smiled, "Get some sleep, Naruto…you deserve it…"

Sasuke turned to her, "What about you?"

Ryoko smiled, "I'm good."

* * *

Gaara watched from afar with his head on Aki's lap, "….Aki…what made him so strong…? Why did he keep fighting…?"

Aki stared at Naruto, Ryoko, and Sasuke, "It was his love and determination to protect his friends. Apparently they're all he has and he didn't want to lose any of them…that's why he kept fighting…"

"…Love…?" Gaara whispered, "That's what made him so strong…?"

Aki nodded, "It can make anyone strong…" She peered down at him and smiled softly, "…even you…Gaara…"

At that moment, Kankuro and Temari jumped down from the trees in front of them. Both weakly glared at the leaf shinobi almost intended to fight.

"That's enough…" Gaara whispered to them, "It's over…"

"But Gaara…" Kankuro started but looked closely at his brother.

"Gaara's too weak to fight Kankuro." Aki said, "We all are…"

"Alright…" Kankuro sighed, "Do you want me to carry him?"

Aki shook her head, "We'll both carry him."

Kankuro wrapped one of Gaara's arms around his neck while Aki grabbed the other.

Weakly Gaara raised his head to the stare at the Leaf shinobi.

Ryoko smirked, "Hey, when you're feeling better and you want a rematch…just call."

Aki smiled, "We just might. You three pick quite a fight."

Kankuro adjusted Gaara, "We better go."

Temari and Aki nodded, "Right."

* * *

All four of them jumped away.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto. Ryoko did the same, wondering what he could be staring at. When she saw, she smiled.

Naruto wore a victorious smile on his face.

* * *

As they jumped through the trees silently, Temari, Kankuro, and Aki were feeling mutual. They didn't feel remorse or anything even though they were hurt and failed their mission.

"…Temari…Kankuro…Aki…" Gaara whispered gaining their attention.

"Hm?" They asked.

"…I'm sorry…"

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other in awe. Aki however smiled tenderly.

"It's alright, Gaara."

Kankuro nodded, "Yeah…Don't worry about it."

* * *

(Two days after the battle… Insert Hokage funeral song from Youtube.)

It was a gloomy cloudy day in Konoha…everyone was morbid of what had came to pass. Ryoko stood in Naruto's room, watching the blond boy stare into space half dressed. The sound of distant thunder and Naruto's clock filled their ears.

"…Naruto…" Ryoko whispered.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when he realized where he was and who was calling him, "…oh…"

Dully, Ryoko retrieved Naruto's black top and helped him put it on due to his wounds.

When his shirt was on, Naruto still acted as though he was lost.

"We better go…" Ryoko told him even though she didn't want to leave either.

Naruto nodded numbly as they left his apartment.

-0-

Naruto and Ryoko waited outside of Naruto's apartment for Sasuke, who was walking slowly with his head down and hands in his pockets. They all had dressed in similar black attire…everyone in the village is wearing black today.

Slowly they made their way to join many others at the Hokage Monument…as time slowly rolled on, it grew darker with rain clouds… every ninja in Konoha had come to mourn the deaths of those who died during the invasion, especially the Third Hokage. Everyone stood in two solid crowds on top on of the Hokage building and waited in the rain for the ceremony to start.

"It's raining…" Kurenai said softly.

"Even the heavens weep…" Asuma said just as softly.

Two elderly people stood before the Hokage's picture, "We are gathered here to remember and honor not only the Third Hokage, but all those who sacrificed themselves in this battle so that the village could survive…"

As the ceremony dragged on, one by one villagers placed white flowers before the Third Hokage's picture before moving on to let the next person place a flower.

"Why did someone so good have to die?" Naruto whispered painfully.

Then he heard Konohamaru sniffling next to him. Ryoko and Naruto glanced at him as Iruka-sensei placed a comforting hand on Konohamaru's shoulder. It was easy to understand why Konohamaru was crying. He had lost his grandfather. Everyone else could feel his pain, but being the Shinobi that they were…they weren't allowed to cry…they couldn't show such emotion that Konohamaru was displaying.

Iruka brought Konohamaru into a hug similar to the one the Third Hokage gave him when he was one when he cried over the loss of his parents.

Soon the genin were next. Shikamaru went first, then Choji, then Ino, then Sakura, then Sasuke and so on…

_'It's a Shinobi rule…never show your feelings…keep your mind focused on your mission. No matter what – no matter how much you're hurting inside…you can't shed a tear…'_

After Sasuke placed his flower, Ryoko soon placed hers and stood there to look at the Hokage's photo. She thought a quick prayer for him before stepping off to let Naruto have his moment to put his flower down. When they returned to their spots, the rain slowly began to stop.

Naruto looked somberly at the Hokage monument and whispered to Iruka-sensei, "Iruka-sensei…Why do they do it? Why do people risk their lives for other people?"

"Well, when someone passes away…it's the end." He began, "His past and future all the dreams he once had…they disappear along with him." He stared at the Hokage photo. "This is true – even if he dies honorably in battle as so many had…like Hayate…all the ties that bind them to the living are severed…all but one…the most important of all…people, parents, siblings, friends, lovers…the people who were important to him. And these people the ones left behind are joined together in a great circle by their shared memories of him…a circle of friendship, trust and sacrifice that grows larger and stronger as time passes. It's hard to explain it. We remain in the circle together…we have no choice…it's important to us…"

"Hm…So we do it because we have to…" Naruto said dully, "…I get it…sort of…" He peered at the Hokage's photo, "…Still…I'm sad he's gone…"

Ryoko nodded somberly, "We all are…"

"Think how sad he'd be if he died for nothing." Kakashi added in as somberly, "But he left us something priceless…" Naruto and Ryoko peered behind them to see Kakashi, "Don't worry…you'll understand one of these days…"

A little light shone in Naruto's eyes again and smirked, "Hey, give me some credit. That much I get."

Soon the dark clouds began to part and the sun slowly glowed and illuminated the village once again as the ceremony drew to a close. And although still pained by the loss, everyone began to smile again, even just a little. Naruto began to get some of his energy back.

"Bye Iruka-sensei! See you later!" Naruto waved good-bye to his former sensei.

"Alright." Iruka said as he watched Naruto run over to rejoin Kakashi, Ryoko, and Sasuke with a big grin on his face.

_'Do you see it Lord Hokage? The will of fire is stronger than ever. The sparks you left behind have kindled the flame among the young leaves of the next generation…A mighty flame Lord Hokage…It will burn brightly and it will shine its light upon our village and keep it warm and safe for many years to come…And some day…out of that new flame…will come a new Hokage…'_

* * *

Meanwhile…thousands of miles away…two dark cloaked figures stood before the village over looking it.

"Well…it survived…but barely. The damage is extensive…" One with a giant wrapped object on his back marveled.

"Not long ago…it was at the height of its glory…" The other one said, "…Look at it now…"

The tall one turned slightly to his partner, "Hmp…you sound almost sad..." He joked humorlessly, "Don't tell me you still have feelings for your old home…"

"No…" He responded surely, "…none…"

* * *

And that's the end of Arc one part one by LadyAmazon! Copy right to Masashi Kisimoto! Yay! Thanks for sticking with me so far everyone! Part 2 will be out soon as a catch a break from the first few weeks of Senior year in High School. My Beyblade remake season 1 is undergoing some modifications so it'll be a while for those who may concern…but new chapters will be up slowly but surely. This story might go through some changes as well due to the fact I might change my mind about some things to make it easier for me!

Any way, credit page is next so stay tuned and thanks everyone. PM and Review quick if you want to be on the Credit page!


	24. Credits, thanks yous, and news

End of Arc 1 part 1: credits page to those who made it possible, for those of you who messaged me, your messages have been lost, but I still honor you guys and you will not be forgotten!

Special thanks to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, messaged, and favorited: (in chapter review order since chapter 1)

Princesa de la Luna (you came up a lot and made it up to 108! ^.^)

Emily

ANDREEA sora

SpacePirateGirl

Riley Baragon

Jennku

Princess Kitana18

leogirl321

X-iceCream

Silent Blaze

Dreamingofmagic

narutowolf

SasukeLuver

Shibo26

koko!jumbo

Yami Mizune

riku92

Priestess-of-Jashin

Chibiamu

Ominous Blue

Azura Soul Reaver

Yachiru Hatake

maxsunnyAK 47

Ray-nee-chan

Amaya Nakamura-Uchiha

TaliSasu

Princess Kitana18

WildTiger777

Smilling Crazy

SeCeRtLIfEoFABi0NErD

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper

XxNyu-chanXx

ToshiroHitsugayagirlfriend

Mikkiz

**And of course to my dear Sasuke friend who the whole story is inspired for! **

LadyAmazon: Okay, many thanks everyone! Uh…arc one is over and part two will be coming soon. Possibly after I decide to put in fillers or not or if I decide to skip to my loo to volume 20 where the team falls apart and Sasuke goes bye bye and everyone chases him, cause you all have to admit that's a lot of filler and…

Naruto: Whoa! Whoa! Wait…what are we even here for?

Ryoko: We're here for the Naruto movies that LadyAmazon promised.

Naruto: Yeah! You said if you were bored enough you would do remakes of the movies.

LadyAmazon: Yeah…that might not happen. I kinda over estimated my self in typing so much and with it being Senior year and all the work…

Sasuke: It's always about you. It's always about you isn't it?"

LadyAmazon: Well, kinda…I am the one writing the story.

Sasuke: Excuses, excuses. You made it this far haven't you?

Ryoko: Besides if we're all here and arc 1 is over, why not do one of the movies right now?

LadyAmazon: Uh because I have school work and projects to do…and all of the other characters aren't here right now

Naruto: Hello, it's called Naruto and I am right here.

LadyAmazon: Did you know Naruto that Sasuke is really the main character?

Sasuke: Well, the less Naruto the better, besides you aren't doing anything now.

LadyAmazon: Okay, tell you what…if you get lost then maybe I'll start writing up ideas.

Naruto: Okay we'll be back in 20 minutes

LadyAmazon: Uh, longer…

Ryoko: Uh…30?

LadyAmazon: Try even longer.

Naruto: 15! No… that's not right.

LadyAmazon: How about some time next week?

Ryoko: That sounds perfect! See you next week! (takes Sasu and Naru away)

LadyAmazon: Otay, so yeas, thank you everyone who has stayed with me through arc 1. It means a whole lot even through ups and downs and any errors. So many kind words and funny ones too that completely made my days! So I will do my best to continue onto the Sasuke chase arc and onto the Shippuden arc and possibly beyond! It won't be easy and I haven't thought all the way ahead, but I don't want that to beat me. It'll take some time, but I will put some things up so be patient please! See you all soon and thanks again!


	25. The Team falls apart

Okay everyone! Arc 2 the Sasuke rescue starts now! I don't own anything! It's all ©Masashi Kishimoto. Okay, my internet was down once again so sorry everyone, but the Tsunade arc and the other episodes in between were waaaaayyyy too long and I didn't want to fit Ryoko into all of that filler. She has been training and I don't want to spoil any surprises, so since we all know what happens (and if you don't go watch the episodes! I'm not doing all the work!) I'm going straight into the Sasuke chase/betrayal! Thanks for everyone's support and reviews over all this time! Seriously you guys don't know how awesome you're all are! Stay cool! And here's Arc 1 Part 2! The Sasuke Arc!

Thank you to:

Princesa de la Luna

RenaJ159

princessparamorevamp

jennku

Princess Kitana18

Leogirl321

AnimeLover5125

Hikari'sLight

Mordecai Green

Persiii

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper

Yachiru Hatake

* * *

Ryoko was just returning from training when she ran into Shikamaru and his dad who were on their way to the Hokage's house.

"Hey, Shikamaru, how's it going?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Alright, I guess. How about you?"

"Trying to find some way to kill time since Naruto's gone on his mission with Jiraiya to get Lady Tsunade and Sasuke and Kakashi are out of commission." She replied.

"Why don't you come with us, then?" Shikamaru's dad asked.

With nothing else better to do, she agreed to go with them.

-0-

"I wonder when Naruto's coming back though. The village has been so dull without him." Ryoko said as she followed them up the steps.

"Who knows you might see him when you least expect it." Shikamaru's dad chuckled.

Shikamaru looked up when he noticed that people were coming their way, "Hey! Isn't that Naruto?"

Ryoko jumped to the front of them to see if it were true, "Naruto?"

Sure enough it was Naruto with Jiraiya, Shizune, and Tsunade! Ryoko ran over to hug him and Naruto happily returned the hug.

"What're you doin' here, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto pulled out of Ryoko's hug to look at Shikamaru, "Me? What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru's dad bowed his head slightly to Lady Tsunade, "It's been a long time. Tsunade. Jiraiya."

"Hey. You're Nara, all grown up?" Tsunade asked, "You're taking care of the deer? The horns of the deer around there are for good medicine."

"Yes, Milady."

Shikamaru leaned towards Naruto to whisper to him, "Naruto, who's the lady?"

Naruto covered half his mouth to whisper back, "Tsunade's the new Hokage and she's not a lady, she actually in her fifties!"

Ryoko and Shikamaru recoiled in shock.

"We'll be better go check up on your Sensei and teammate." Tsunade said continuing on her way with Shizune and Jiraiya following after her.

"We'll see ya, Shikamaru." Ryoko and Naruto waved good-bye.

-0-

Ryoko and Naruto followed behind the adults as they walked about the hospital to Sasuke's room.

"Hey, Ryoko…" Naruto mutters, catching Ryoko's attention, "Has Sasuke's condition change at all?"

Ryoko sadly shook her head, "Not really. Sakura's been visiting his room more than I have and every time I go…they're both in a zombie like state. Sasuke's unconscious and Sakura just sits there by his side and stares at him…" She told him somberly. "Kakashi-sensei isn't in any better state but at least his eyes were open."

"But that's all going to change now that Granny's here!" Naruto exclaimed happily as they came to Sasuke's room. Tsunade slide the door open and one by one everyone walked in, startling Sakura.

"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed from behind Tsunade, "Everything's okay now! Look who I brought!"

"Naruto…!" Sakura whispered in shock as Tsunade came closer to stand beside Sasuke. Sakura moved out of the way, "Master Guy told me…" Sakura started as she bowed her head, "Please…please help Sasuke!"

Tsunade gave Sakura a kind smile, "Of course. Don't worry." Tsunade faced Sasuke and placed her palm on his forehead and her hand glowed a light green as she started the healing process. The Genin watched on astounded by this.

"He'll wake up soon." Tsunade informed them when she finished healing Sasuke.

True to her word, Sasuke slowly began to wake up. The Genin gasped in shock as Sasuke slowly sat up, although out of it, he was alive and awake!

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried, wrapping her arms around him.

Sasuke didn't move or respond to Sakura hugging him the way she was.

"He's really awake…" Ryoko whispered still reeling in shock. She looked at Naruto to see him a little pained, she was about to ask him what was wrong, but Naruto suddenly turned away and left the room with a forced smile on his face.

"Naruto?" Ryoko asked following after him into the hallway, "What's up?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nothing. I'm just happy Sasuke's going to be okay."

Ryoko smiled knowingly, "Naruto…you're really a good guy…Thank you for everything you did to bring Lady Tsunade here."

Naruto gave her a smile, "Ah, it was nothing. So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to stick around longer with Lady Tsunade to see if she can fix Kakashi-sensei and Lee."

Naruto nodded and ran off, probably in search of Ramen. Ryoko heard Sasuke's room door open and saw that Lady Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune come out of the room.

"Excuse me," Ryoko addressed her politely, "But could you look at two more people?"

Tsunade nodded, "I know who you have in mind and I'm on my way there."

-0-

Kakashi-sensei sat up in his bed with a heavy sigh.

"Getting beat up by just a couple of thugs," Tsunade stated as Kakashi stared into space, "Guess you were human after all…I thought you were a natural."

Ryoko giggled at Tsunade harsh words to Kakashi.

Might Guy however was in a panic state, "Forget him! Please take a look at my pupil, Lee!" He yelled pointing to Lee's room.

-0-

Might Guy and Ryoko stared at Tsunade intensively as she studied Rock Lee's back. Tsunade had a fearful look on her face before she stood up.

"So?" Ryoko asked, "How is he?"

"I'm sorry to say this, but…you're not cut out to be a Shinobi."

Lee flinched when he heard the news while Might Guy tried to laugh it off, "You're not serious are you?"

Tsunade however was very serious, "I found numerous bone fragments lodged deep inside his vital nerves." She informed them, "He's in no condition to perform any kind of mission as a shinobi. Even if he gets surgery…"

Ryoko didn't want it to be true, "Isn't there another solution…?"

"Do I…not have a chance…?" Lee asked shaken.

"I'm the only one who can do the operation. It's lengthy…and there's a big risk involved…"

"Risk?"

"The odds of the operation being a success are 50 percent at best. You'll die if I fail." She stated firmly, "Even if it's a success…you'll be incapacitated for a long time."

The air grew thin as what Tsunade said hung in the air. Lee grew pale as he dressed himself and grabbed his crutch and hobbled out of the room.

Ryoko turned to Tsunade, "Isn't there a way to tip the odds in his favor?"

Tsunade didn't respond so Ryoko took that answer enough and left

-0-

'Man, today is a complete disaster…granted that Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei are feeling better, but Lee can't be a Shinobi anymore?' She kicked a small pebble as she walked past the hospital again, "What else can go wrong today?"

Suddenly she heard a loud explosion followed by the sound of metal tearing.

"What the hell…?" She looked up to see a downpour of water raining on her, soaking her completely. Growling she shook off the water, "Seriously, what the hell?" She looked up to see the back side of on of the water tanks on top of the hospital completely burst open.

"Whoa! What the heck did that?" Then she saw Sasuke jump off the roof and ran off.

"Where is he going?" Not a moment later she saw Naruto as well going in the opposite direction. "Now where's he going?" She flashed jump onto the roof to see Sakura there crying. She ran over to her and asked what happen but Sakura was too choked up to explain clearly.

"You're crying because Naruto and Sasuke got into a fight?" Ryoko guessed.

Sakura shook her head furiously, "Not like this! This wasn't like their normal fights! It was like they were trying to destroy each other!"

Ryoko scratched her head, "Well that's kinda…not good…" She finished lamely, "Look, don't worry about it too much, Kakashi-sensei will sort them out and so will I, you go back to your team."

Sakura nodded numbly.

_'Now I've got some sense to knock into certain people…'_

(Much later that night….)

Ryoko stood alone near the Konoha gates with her arms crossed. After talking with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei about what happened earlier today, she had a sneaking suspicion about Sasuke's behavior. _'That Orochimaru…I know he's doing this to Sasuke…He's not getting him without going through me first.'_

"It's not safe for you to be out here at night."

Ryoko lifted her head to see Sasuke a few feet away from her dressed in his old attire, without his shinobi headband, and his backpack. "I could say the same for you. Where are you going?" She asked gesturing to his backpack.

"None of your business…" Sasuke responded as he made his way around her, "Go back home…"

"Why? So you can run off to Orochimaru and let him use you?" Ryoko asked hotly, turning to face his back, "Seriously, what's the matter with you? Why are you going off to a snake like him?"

"Why should I have to tell you anything?" Sasuke snapped, still not facing her, he didn't have the courage to, if he did, he probably wouldn't have the courage to leave the village or her behind. "Just keep your nose out of my business…it's never been your concern…"

Ryoko almost resisted the urge to scoff, "For as long as we've been teammates and friends it's been my concern…ever since we've been put together on the same squad we've always looked out for no another…the way I saw it our team was a sort of family…Naruto didn't have a family…I didn't have a family…you didn't have a family…even Kakashi-sensei didn't have a family…all we needed was each other…"

The wind picked up slightly, blowing the green leaves in its gentle currents, brushing their hair slightly as a moment of silence fell on them.

"…I don't see it that way…" Sasuke responded, sending a small painful jolt through Ryoko's body.

Cheerful memories of their previous missions and training flashed through their minds, when they were all happy doing things together; eating ramen at Ichiraku's, laying in the open fields under the stars, running wildly through fields, training together by the rivers, watching Naruto getting whopped by Kakashi-sensei…

"What's revenge going to bring?" Ryoko asked him quietly, "If you do kill your brother what will you do then? Killing him won't bring your family back and going to Orochimaru is just as worse!"

"…I know this…I'm going down a path you can't follow." Sasuke told her, "I know that the four of us went through a lot together…and for a while I thought I could take that road instead…but in the end I decided on revenge…that's always been my reason for living…I'll never be like you and Naruto."

Tears threatened to fall from Ryoko's eyes, "You stupid idiot! There's more to life than revenge! Don't let that get in the way of your life! Naruto, Kakashi, and I didn't let that get in our way – don't let it get into yours!"

"This is a new beginning." Sasuke insisted, "This is a new path for us…"

"So you're just going to throw it all away for revenge that won't bring you anything?" Ryoko snapped as her voice quivered as tears slowly fell from her eyes, "After everything we've been through – all the battles - they mean nothing? Don't you understand how much things would change if you left?" She viciously wiped her tears and tried to keep her voice strong, "I swear if you walk away any further…I'll break your legs and bring you back myself!"

Sasuke chuckled when he heard her threat, "You still haven't changed…you're still a stubborn smart mouth…" He slowly turned to face her and even though her tear-stained face shook him to the core he still put on his famous smirk, "You really think you can challenge me?"

"If I said it I obviously meant it." Ryoko told him, clenching her fists. "So…are you still going to walk away or so I have to break your legs? You have…"

Sasuke flashed step and suddenly appeared before her before she could blink. Ryoko gasped when she felt Sasuke's warm breath inches from her face. Her eyes met his onyx eyes…so many emotions flashed through them until they settled on a dull black.

"Ryoko…" Sasuke whispered before pressing his lips against hers. She drew in breath as she looked him in the eyes. Sasuke knew he saw a certain spark flash through her eyes as they shared this kiss. So many things that were never said with words were expressed with this one kiss.

Dizzy, Ryoko pulled back, "Sasuke…?" Her voice quivered with her heart.

"Abruptly Sasuke pulled her into a tight hug and whispered huskily in her ear, "...Thank you for everything…" He kissed her cheek before he pressed a pressure point in her neck.

Ryoko's eyes widen when she felt her body give out on itself against Sasuke, "Sasuke…you fool…" Then darkness consumed her.

Sasuke carried her over to the side of the gate and propped her up against the pillar. He gazed at her unconscious form as he stroke a strand of her hair. He placed a kiss on her forehead before he stood up and continued his journey out of the village with no intention of going back.


	26. Formation! The Sasuke Retrieval Squad

Another quick update! I don't own anything! It's all ©Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

When Ryoko awoke to the sound of the birds, her eyes slowly began to open to the stormy grey skies. Suddenly everything hit her in a rush. She bolted up when she saw that she was still at the gates. She gritted her teeth when she realized what happened last night. Sasuke had made his choice, "Shoot! Trouble-maker!" She ran off to the Hokage building to tell Lady Hokage about Sasuke.

-0-

"Are you sure of that?" Tsunade demanded when she slammed her hands on her desk.

Ryoko nodded firmly, "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't stop him…" She trailed off with shame.

Tsunade plopped down back in her chair as she contemplated on what to do, "We're going to have to retrieve him…if he gets into Orochimaru's hands…we might have a crisis on our hands…"

"I'll do it." Ryoko said immediately, "I'm the one who let him go – I'll get him back."

Tsunade shook her head, "No…I have something else in mind…"

Not soon after she had said that Shikamaru came through the door and stood next to Ryoko.

"What's going on?" He asked her.

"Sasuke's gone." She said simply.

"What?" He said in disbelief. He turned to Lady Tsunade for an answer.

"Late last night Sasuke Uchiha left the village and we're quite certain that he's headed towards the Hidden Sound Village." Tsunade informed him.

"He just left? How could this happen?"

Ryoko looked at the floor with regret, "I couldn't stop him. I tried to convince him to stay…but he was too determined to leave."

"But why would he go to the Hidden Sound village?"

"Because of Orochimaru." Tsunade and Ryoko answered in unison.

Shikamaru reeled back in shock, "What? Wait, that doesn't make any sense. What does Sasuke have to gain with talking with someone as deprived as Orochimaru?"

"Stupid revenge and power that's what he wants to gain." Ryoko spat out in disgust.

"Right now his motive doesn't matter." Tsunade said firmly, "We need to deal with it quickly and I've decided it time to carry out your first mission as a Chunin Shikamaru."

"So, all I gotta do is bring Sasuke back?" Shikamaru asked, 'So long as there aren't enemies, it shouldn't be a big of a deal.'

"Yes. That is your mission…but it must be accomplished without delay and you might find it a more dangerous task than you think." Tsunade told him, almost reading his thoughts.

Shikamaru looked at her in question, "Huh?"

"Orochimaru wants Sasuke at all costs…I don't think he would really let Sasuke wonder over the Sound Village alone…" Ryoko assumed in deep thought, "…He might have his goons meet Sasuke at some point to take him to Orochimaru...and they probably guarantee that there will be ninjas coming after Sasuke to bring him back."

Tsunade nodded, "My thoughts exactly."

Shikamaru sighed, "Well, if we're going to be facing opposition I'm going to need to request a team composed exclusively of Jounin and Chunin."

"I can't honor that request."

"What? And why not?" Shikamaru demanded.

"You already know the answer." Tsunade replied turning in her chair, "As I'm sure you're aware most of the jounin have been sent out on missions. Only a handful stayed behind to defend in case of attack."

Shikamaru grunted when he heard the news.

"Go round up any skilled Genin you feel are up to the job." Tsunade ordered, "You have 30 minutes to leave the village."

Shikamaru and Ryoko silently contemplate on what to do.

"You can bet I'm going with you." Ryoko told Shikamaru, "Who ever else you decide is up to you."

"I honestly don't like the guy, but since I know him I don't see any other choice." Shikamaru sighed as he turned to leave, "This is going to be such a drag…"

"Hold on." Tsunade called.

They turned to heed her.

"There's one person I strongly recommend to join you…"

-0-

"NO WAY!" Naruto yelled, " YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!"

Both Shikamaru and Ryoko covered their ears when Naruto yelled. Even for someone who just rolled out of bed, he's still loud no matter what.

"You just woke up and you're already _this_ annoying?" Shikamaru asked, nursing his ringing ears.

"Shake a leg Naruto. We got 20 minutes to get out of the village to go after Sasuke." Ryoko told him.

Naruto threw off his sleeping hat and ran inside his apartment, "Hang on! I'll go get dressed!"

Shikamaru stared at the door in shock, somewhat confused on what happened.

-0-

The sun was rising higher in the sky as Shikamaru, Ryoko, and Naruto ran through the village.

"So besides me…" Naruto started, running between Shikamaru and Ryoko, "…did you come up with any other top notch guys to ask?"

"A few." Shikamaru answered, "Ryoko's coming of course…the others we have to find…"

"So who are they?" Naruto and Ryoko asked.

-0-

Shikamaru lead Naruto and Ryoko to a quaint house. Shikamaru knocked on the sliding door a few times before he got annoyed when no one answered right away.

"Wake up will ya?" he lazily demanded as he continued to knock.

"You said top-notch guys right?" Naruto asked him a little unsurely.

Shikamaru turned away from the door and sat down crossed leg in front of it, "Plan B I guess." He said pulling out a bag of barbeque chips from his pouch. He ripped the bag open and proceeded to have some.

"What? So plan B is potato chips?" Naruto asked, confused.

"They're barbeque flavored. Feel free to help out?" Shikamaru said offering some to Ryoko.

"Wait…isn't there someone we know who loves this brand?" Ryoko asked taking some chips and began to eat them.

Naruto joined in and together they proceeded to eat the entire bag of chips until Shikamaru held the last chip in the palm of his hand, "Now."

The front door slid open and a very angry looking Choji came barreling through the door, grabbing the chip out of Shikamaru's hand.

"Even for a bag of potato chips I refuse to let anyone have the last bite!" He declared seriously.

"Hey, Choji." Ryoko greeted cheerfully, while Naruto looked a little doubtful.

"Choji and I have been on missions for a long time and we work well together." Shikamaru explained to Naruto, "Naturally asking him is a no brainer."

Choji chuckled happily, but Naruto wasn't so happy.

"I get it – you know him!" Naruto yelled in Shikamaru's ear, "But for this kind of thing don't you think your first choice should be someone like Shino?"

Ryoko looked at Choji who prepared to eat the last chip, "What's wrong with Choji? Come on, even you gotta admit that he's strong."

Suddenly a white blur approached the four of them, heading straight for Choji.

"Not on your life!" Choji yelled dramatically as he ate the potato chip.

The white blur had turned out to be Akamaru. When he saw that the potato chip had been eaten he whimpered broken hearted.

But of course, you can't have Akamaru without Kiba. "Shino can't do it. He's off on some special mission with his father right now."

Ryoko went over to Akamaru and stroke his fur. "Hey Akamaru, hey Kiba."

"Hey, wait. Not them too." Naruto complained.

Shikamaru smirked, "Yup. They're on the team."

Naruto held his head and yelled in frustration.

"Come on, Naruto. Kiba and Akamaru are a great addition." Ryoko reasoned placing Akamaru with Kiba, "They can sniff out Sasuke's scent, making tracking Sasuke a lot easier."

Akamaru barked in agreement.

-0-

The five of them plus Akamaru ran through the village again looking for teammates as Shikamaru filled Choji and Kiba about the mission they've been selected for.

"I see. Sounds like an interesting job." Kiba somewhat exclaimed with excitement, "I guess getting up early to walk the dog pays off sometimes."

"Hey, Shikamaru, so is there anyone else?" Naruto asked.

"I think Neji or Hinata would be a good addition. They can use their Byakugan to help us out." Ryoko suggested.

Shikamaru looked back at them, "I wish we had more time to ask but we're late already. If we don't run across anyone else on the way out of the village I guess it's going to be just us."

Coincidentally on their way the saw Neji and Rock Lee and stopped by to talk to them about the mission and hope they could help.

"Yes. I understand." Neji said, holding Lee up when he helped him down the stairs.

"Yeah, it's kinda a drag but we figures the more guys we have the better so…"

"Lee, I know it's selfish of me to ask but are you able to fight?" Ryoko asked sincerely.

Lee looked down at the ground discontented, "No…although my surgery was a success I have to rest a little more before I start training…"

Neji turned to Lee, "Lee…it's up to you…you do what you must do…"

Everyone half expected Lee to join them but to everyone's surprise…Lee began to walk away! Any other time he would be as exuberant as Naruto if he were to go on such a mission as this…

"Tomorrow I will try climbing these steps by myself…" Lee suddenly declared with a little determination as he stood before the staircase. He turned to face his friends with a determined smile, "I will be fine…you go on without me."

And as a sign of good will he even escorted them to the village gates to see them off.

"It's time to go." Shikamaru told them as they prepped themselves to the journey ahead.

Choji, Kiba, Akamaru, Naruto, Ryoko, and Neji stood ready and determined at the gates.

"Oh well…at least I got six." Shikamaru said dully, although happy he had a good number of teammates.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled punching his fist in the air as he took point in front of the group, "Let's get going! Everybody follow me!"

However nobody moved an inch. "Hey…uh…Naruto…" Shikamaru started, "I'm kinda supposed to be the platoon leader here. I know it's a drag but…"

Naruto growled in annoyance as he turned to face Shikamaru, "You really think you're the best person to direct this operation? You don't seem very reliable to me."

Ryoko sighed and placed a hand on her forehead, "Oh boy, here we go…"

Kiba tucked Akamaru in his jacket, "What's up with you acting like you're in charge all of a sudden? I mean, taking orders from somebody as lazy as Shikamaru doesn't exactly thrill me either, but still."

"Shikamaru's a Chunin." Ryoko added, "He out ranks us."

"That means the elders of the village clearly believe he's got what it takes to call the shot on this one." Choji added.

"If that's the case, perhaps you should start coming up with a plan." Neji said to Shikamaru, "From what I gather Sasuke has gone to the enemy and there's a real chance they could ambush us."

"Well for starters this is a rescue operation so we'll be in the position of pursuit." Shikamaru informed them, "Which means the enemy already has an important advantage over us." He turned around to face the others, "That said, I'm arranging us in a deployment formation that can respond to any assault by the enemy. If any of you don't follow my exact order we're all going to die."

Ryoko stepped up, "Then we'll follow your lead."

"Okay, we'll go with a single file strike formation…as we all know the most important position is the spear head…so that's going to be Kiba! You're up front." Shikamaru decided, nearly shocking Kiba. "With all the walks you and Akamaru go on you're the most familiar with the Land of Fire's terrain and with that sensitive nose of yours you will be able to track Sasuke's scent while sniffing out any booby traps the enemy may have set. Moreover we'll have two sets of eyes up front. You and Akamaru will be more effective in protecting our single file line from an assault." Then Shikamaru drew a diagram on a piece of paper how the formation will look with Kiba in the front and himself behind Kiba, "Second in line will be yours truly – platoon leader. From that position I will be able to direct everyone behind me using silent hand signals and because I'm so close to Kiba I'll be position to react in any situation." Then he drew Naruto in the middle, "In the middle, the number three position is Naruto. The middle of the line is the perfect location for you because you're the most capable of executing quick moves whether in front of you of behind you."

Naruto couldn't help but smirk proudly because of his important position.

"You're the cornerstone and you have the shadow clone jutsu." Shikamaru then drew Choji behind Naruto, "Fourth in line is Choji. Choji, you might not have any speed but you're striking power is the greatest in the platoon. Kiba, myself, and Naruto will launch a surprise attack and then you'll swoop in and finish them off. You're the second wave of our assault." Shikamaru drew Ryoko behind Choji, "Fifth in line is you, Ryoko. Just like Naruto, you have the Shadow clone jutsu and lots of chakra in your disposal. Incase one or more of us go down, you jump in there and offer support and since you're a kunoichi you've gone through better medical training so incase one of us in injured, you jump in and help." Then he drew Neji, "Finally, on the end, we have you, Neji. Your position is most difficult…rear look out. I want you to use your Byakugan to constantly scan ahead for weaknesses in our attacks." Shikamaru finished, "Got it? This diagram shows what part of the perimeter you're responsible for: Kiba watches the front, I'm responsible for a wider forward view, Naruto's got the left, Choji the right, Ryoko watch everyone's back, and Neji, using your Byakugan, you cover the entire area to the rear." He puts the diagram away and moves on, "Alright now I think I should familiarize myself with our arms and weapons. I'll need to check out all of the ninja tools each of you plan on carrying into battle…that way I'll know what we have. Are there any questions?" He asked finally.

Naruto shook his head and everyone else agreed with the terms.

"Since no one has anything to add I saved the most important thing for last…"

Everyone silently waited to hear what he had to say.

"For as long as I've know him, Sasuke and I haven't been close buddies. In fact I don't really like him at all…"

Everyone was shocked to say the least when they heard someone like Shikamaru admit something like that.

"…All the same Sasuke's a ninja belonging to the Hidden Leaf Village. He's a comrade and I will put my life on the line to help him…that's the way of our village…I know I seem like a pretty lazy guy but not today because now I'm responsible for your lives too."

Ryoko smirked, "Wow, that's pretty big of you Shikamaru. You're owning up to your Chunin vest."

Kiba smirked as well, "Wow, I never thought I'd see Shikamaru acting like a Chunin. Very impressive." He complemented.

"Okay, once we've checked our gear, we'll go." Neji decided when the sentimental moment was over, "Show me your weapons."

Everyone complied and pulled out their pouch to show Neji their weapons. Once he approved of everyone's weapons they got ready to leave however a distressed voiced stopped them. "Wait!"

They all turned to see Sakura standing there.

"Sakura? Are you alright?" Naruto asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Lady Hokage told me everything." Shikamaru told her, "Sorry, Sakura, I can't take you with us on this mission. I know you tried but even you couldn't convince Sasuke."

Ryoko and Naruto were shocked to hear that even Sakura tried to stop Sasuke.

"Now our only option is for me to find him and force him to come back to the village. I'm sorry but there's nothing else you can do for him." Shikamaru told her.

"Does that mean Sasuke turned his back on you Sakura?" Naruto asked.

Ryoko roughly nudged him in the ribs when Sakura started crying. "You insensitive jerk." Ryoko hissed, "Why did you have to say it like that. Sakura's completely in love with the guy, how do you think she's feeling right now?" She asked gesturing to Sakura's shaking form.

"Naruto…" Sakura closed her eyes as she allowed her tears to fall, "This is a…once in a life time request…" Sakura wept, "…just bring him home…please bring Sasuke back to me…" She begged through her tears, "I did everything I could…I tried…but I couldn't stop him from leaving the village…at this moment…there are only you and Ryoko who can bring him back…"

Ryoko looked at Naruto. She could see the pain behind his brave front. Naruto cared deeply for Sakura. He's willing to put aside his pain to make Sakura happy…and what makes Sakura happy is Sasuke. _'This is why I think Hinata will be better for you Naruto. Sakura is blind to not fall for someone as kind as you…even after all this time of her not paying attention to you, you still love her the way you do...'_

Naruto gave Sakura a thumbs up, "Don't you worry, Sakura! We'll bring Sasuke back! I promise that on my life!"

Kiba waltz over to Naruto with a cocky smirk, "Whoa, Naruto! That's quite a statement. Are you sure you should be promising her that we will get him?"

Ryoko wrapped her arm around Kiba's neck with a cocky smirk of her own, "Sure! When Naruto gives his word he always follows through with it! And the same goes for me! I already swore to Sasuke that I'll bring him back to the village even if I have to break his legs!"

Naruto raised his fist with newfound excitement, "So what are we waiting for? Let's get moving!"

"Alright…" Shikamaru agreed, "This interruption cost us some time so we better get going."

"Right!"

Then together the seven of them left the gates together side by side confidently.

Neji turned to Ryoko, "Why didn't you say something to Sakura? You care about Sasuke on the same level as she does right?"

Ryoko smirked, "Sure I do…but that doesn't mean I'm going to cry about it or declare it to everyone…besides I'm only 12. What do I know about love?"

"Huh?" Naruto exclaimed, "You like Sasuke too? What do you see in him?"

Ryoko chuckled lightly, "It's not what I see in him…it's what everyone doesn't see in him."

"Huh?"

"Exactly."


	27. Leaf vs Sound Squad Mutiny!

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. I've got chicken flavored ramen, my cozy blanket, comfy slippers, my Gaara plush watching over me as I type and the Naruto guide in front of me... ©Masashi Kishimoto. People may have gotten an update recently but it was a false alarm. I was fixing chapter 14 I accidently deleted it when i should've replaced it. So sorry for confusion, please don't kill me!

Song of my day: That's your Horoscope for Today! (I don't know who sings it, but you can listen to it on Youtube. My sign: Libra, is sadly true.)

Thanks Everyone!:

Jennku

princessparamorevamp

Persiii

leogirl321 – Yes! I love the hunt!

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper

Yachiru Hatake

Malaika

Shifuni

Princesa de la Luna

awesome kunoichi

Scarlet-dragon1o1

* * *

Leaf vs Sound - Squad Mutiny

It had felt like they had been jumping through the trees in single file formation for what seemed like hours. They didn't know if they were getting closer to the enemy for further from the enemy. Even at the blinding speed they were going they weren't sure. They haven't even talked much since the whole mission began. Both Naruto and Ryoko were wondering what could be happening to Sasuke right now in the hands of the enemy. Most likely nothing good and the dull pain pulsating in Ryoko's heart wasn't making her feeling any better. She had a constant feeling of foreboding.

"Have you got a scent, Kiba?"

"Here's what happened. 10 of 2 newcomers converged on the scent of Sasuke and the four others. Two have stayed behind while Sasuke's group has moved on." Kiba explained before looking back at Shikamaru, "So what now?"

"Just as I thought," Shikamaru said, "Sasuke's got an escort."

"There's no question!" Naruto interrupted, "We gotta go after Sasuke!"

"Who died and made you boss?" Kiba snapped, "Last time I checked Shikamaru was in charge of running this show! It's up to him to decide!"

Naruto growled but didn't respond to Kiba.

"Well, Shikamaru?" Choji asked from behind Naruto.

"Well, since Akamaru smelled blood. My guess is that there was a battle between Sasuke's group and the two newcomers. If we got to the spot where they fought we might be able to gather some useful information."

"Do you think it's wise to rush in?" Ryoko asked, "I wouldn't put it pass sound to set a few traps."

"I wouldn't either." Shikamaru agreed, "That's why we'll go into full reconnaissance mode and take it slowly."

"And while we're doing that Sasuke would've crossed beyond the boarders of the land of Fire and be out of our hands." Neji informed.

Ryoko's eyes widen, "You mean we don't have permission to leave the land of Fire? I thought we had that!"

"I thought we would be able to reach Sasuke in time so I didn't request permission." Shikamaru told her. "But that doesn't matter we still follow Sasuke!"

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto yelled.

"Wait, Naruto. Unless these guys are complete idiots, they'll realize that there will be more ninja after them after that first fight. There are likely booby traps or even an ambush up ahead. So from this point on we proceed with caution. I want everybody, not just Akamaru, to put their senses on full alert! If you catch a trace of anything suspicious sound the alarm. I want to find these guys before they find us!"

"Roger!"

They picked up their speed slightly until Kiba alerted them they he and Akamaru smelt the enemy around the area. Immediately Shikamaru ordered everyone to stop and everyone landed orderly next to each other on a nearby branch.

Shikamaru looked up at the tree in front of him, "There. See that?"

Everyone looked at the tree before them to see a paper bomb pasted to the tree.

"A paper bomb. I'm sure there are five more of them." Neji said peering closely at the bomb, "A perimeter barrier…that's what it is."

"A perimeter barrier?" Choji asked.

"It's a type of trap Ninjutsu." Shikamaru answered, "There's a delay after the barrier's been breached – giving the victim just enough time to reach the center to get the full effect."

"So now we have to waster time going around it?" Kiba growled, "Great."

-0-

For some complicated reason Shikamaru wanted everyone to make part of the journey on foot to avoid traps. However it was annoying enough keeping their eyes glued to the ground for any wire traps.

"I wonder how much time I took to cover the entire area with wire traps."

"Lucky for us they're easy to spot." Shikamaru said, "These guys are moving fast and getting sloppy."

Everyone continued to press on watching their steps carefully. Speaking of carefully.

"Naruto, do me a favor and watch where you're going," Kiba said, "I don't want you blowing all of us up. There are trip wires everywhere."

"Tell me something I don't know." Naruto retorted lifting his foot to step over a visible wire. Just before his foot reached the ground a thinner wire under his foot caught a light.

"Naruto! Hold it!" Shikamaru yelled franticly.

Suddenly Naruto froze in place before he had a chance to step on the invisible wire. Ryoko let out a relieved sigh when Shikamaru caught Naruto in time with his Shadow Possession jutsu, though she found it funny the Shikamaru had to grab Choji's scarf for balance support.

"Didn't I tell you to watch your step you moron!" Kiba yelled.

Ryoko went behind Kiba and punched him on the back of the head. Kiba yelped in pain and rubbed the back of his head.

He glared at her, "What did you do that for?"

"Don't mess with the blonde!" She threatened.

Shikamaru kneeled near the wire to inspect the trap, "Ah, I see. One wire catches the light while the other is camouflaged." He turned to Naruto, "While you were busy avoiding the first you tripped the second."

"They've created a trap within a trap." Neji claimed, "They're clever whoever they are."

Ryoko tilted her head in thought, "Weird how the traps from before were quick and sloppy, but this one wasn't."

"They may have stopped to rest." Neji said supporting her thought, "Perhaps one of them is injured…or is this part of the trap?"

"Why not look ahead and find out?" Ryoko asked him softly, "They have to be close by."

Neji clasped his hands in form of a seal and activated his Byakugan, "Byakugan!" He peered possibly several miles or meters away until he finally saw the Sound Four resting up ahead. One of the sitting on a circular sealed coffin while they others were resting on the ground or against a tree.

Neji's eyes narrowed, "I see them!"

Almost everyone cheered with steadfast excitement, ready to charge ahead to attack. Shikamaru managed to reel them in slightly even though he was itching to fight as well.

"First we make a plan…and then we nail these bastards."

-0-

A few moments passed for Shikamaru to explain the plan to the squad. "Kiba the timing for those bombs are absolutely crucial, got it?"

"Yeah, got it."

"So split up…let's go." Shikamaru whispered.

Everyone nodded and went on their way for surveillance. Naruto stuck to the ground and crawled through bushes. Kiba went a separate way to scope out the land. Ryoko stuck with Choji as they looked around. While Neji and Shikamaru strayed farther from the group they hid inside bushes. Shikamaru peered through an opening in the bush to see the Sound Four not too far from their position. "Looks like we caught them napping." He leaned closer when he realized something crucial, "Hold on. Where's Sasuke?"

He looked to Neji, who had activated his Byakugan, for an answer. Neji used his Byakugan to look inside the coffin.

"He's in there." Neji confirmed, "He's inside that coffin."

"You don't mean he's dead!" Shikamaru whispered fearfully.

"It's been sealed with a barrier jutsu that's hard for me to see through clearly. Considering that went through all that trouble to get him…I can't believe they'd be willing to kill him so quickly."

Shikamaru grunted before turning his attention back to the Sound Four who had yet to acknowledge their presence, "Let's just hope you're right."

There was a lapse of silence before the double headed silver haired ninja whirled around abruptly and threw a kunai in the direction of Neji and Shikamaru. The kunai went between them and embedded itself into the tree behind them, catching them completely off guard. However when they looked back, they noticed three paper bombs attached to the kunai. They almost had no time to react when the paper bombs lit and began to burn off quickly. They barely flashed jumped in time to get away from the explosion. The shock wave blew them into the air and had them skidding directly in front of the waiting enemy.

"Well, well, I thought I was flushing a snake out of the bushes but all I got were a couple of mice." The double headed one sneered as he and the Sound Four peered down at Shikamaru and Neji.

Jirōbō crouched slightly, ready to attack them.

Shikamaru quickly got to his feet and held his hands up in defense, "Uh, wait a minute! Calm down! We're here to negotiate - not to fight! Can't we talk this over like reasonable people?" He rushed in a panic.

Kidōmaru smirked, "Heh, let's not forget your friends shall we?" He reeled his arms back behind his head and thrusting them forward. Revealing Naruto, Ryoko, Kiba, and Choji, all three were sent flying from their hiding spots by thin spider web thread that Kidōmaru was controlling.

In mid air Kiba smirked as he twisted in mid air and threw a purple smoke bomb at the ground. The purple smoke expanded into a tented cloud, perfectly concealing Kiba, Naruto, Ryoko, and Choji. The Sound Four, Shikamaru, and Neji were still on the outsides of the smoke cloud.

Kidomaru chuckled darkly, "What good is that going to do? Throw all the smoke bombs you want – I still got you!" He wiggled his fingers, controlling the spider webs that held them, "These threads are so fine they're almost invisible, but they're stronger than they look. You may have already encountered them in the forest."

The smoke bomb effect was beginning to clear, revealing the six of them on the other side. Shikamaru's eyes slightly widen with realization, "So that double trap of trip wire you set…in fact was actually a triple trap." His memory flashed to when they inspected the double wire trap and imagined that under the invisible wire was another invisible wire. "Heh. That was clever. So I guess that makes you the smart one of the group."

"Shikamaru, I don't think you should compliment the bad guys." Ryoko stated, "Besides he looks like the stupid one…"

Kidomaru growled, "Well, you're about to be the dead one." He tried to raise both of his arms but froze when he felt stiffness in them, "hn- my body…! What's happening…?"

Naruto smirked when he saw that their plan had worked, "Yeah! That was perfect! Kiba distracted him and you nailed them with your Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

Shikamaru smirked as he had successfully trapped the Sound Four in his jutsu, "Yeah, that's right, you're not the only ones who can spring a trap. Thanks for making me look good in front of the squad. Appreciated."

The dulled silver hair shinobi smirked, "Very impressive. I'd be even more impressed if I hadn't already mastered that technique as well." He said mysteriously.

Then suddenly three shuriken flew from the trees behind the six shinobi and went straight for Shikamaru. Shikamaru whirled around in time to avoid the first two but the last one cut his arm, but this distraction however caused him to lose control of his Shadow Possession Justu and released the Sound Four.

Jirobo smirked when he was freed, "Earth Style Barrier…" He kneeled down and slammed his palms against the earth, causing small earth plates to crack and rise from the Chakra pressure and force, "…Earth Dome Prison!" The earth shook as the rubbles of rocks made its way towards the squad, quickly encasing them in a rocky prison. Everyone began to panic when the rocks finally sealed them in and casted them in darkness.

Ryoko growled, "Grr…terrific…we're trapped in another barrier! It seems that all they can do is form barriers!"

Naruto went over to the nearest ball and started to pound on it with his fist, "Hey, you out there! Let us out right now!"

Kiba snorted obnoxiously, "Yeah, like that's going to help!" Kiba felt the wall in front of him for any weakness. Neji joined him in inspecting the wall.

"It seems to be nothing more than a dirt wall."

Kiba stood up, "Ha. A wall's a wall! And there's no wall I can't punch a hole through!"

Shikamaru turned slightly towards him, "Yeah, I guess it's worth a shot. We have to find a way out of here despite the risks."

Kiba clasps his hands together and focused his chakra before crouching down on all fours, growling. Then he jumped in the air and performed one of his signature moves. He spun in the air and flew to the wall, "Tunneling Fang!"

Like a machine drill, Kiba attacked the wall with amazing spinning force. For a moment, everyone believed that he was making progress judging by the dirt dust he was kicking up, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

When Kiba's attack came to a stop and the dust cleared, everyone saw that Kiba hadn't made as much progress as they originally thought seeing at Kiba clung to the medium sized dent in the wall. Kiba jumped off the wall and everyone watched in shock as the hole that Kiba created began to rebuild itself completely. Clearly peeved, Kiba turned to Neji and pointed to the wall where the hole used to be.

"Hey, did you-?"

"Yes. We saw." Neji answered.

Naruto's eyes turned white with anger, "LET US OUT!" His voiced bounced off the walls.

"Guess it's more than just a dirt wall." Ryoko commented.

"Yes, you're right." Neji commented using his Byakugan to see through the walls. He was surprised to see Chakra flowing through the walls. "The walls…"

"What about the walls?" Shikamaru asked.

Neji didn't answer him at first. He looked at his hands with his Byakugan to see his chakra leaving his body, "The walls are absorbing our chakra."

Everyone gasped in shock. Naruto shook with rage, "No way…NO WAY THEY CAN DO THIS TO US! WHOEVER YOU ARE LET US OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Ryoko sighed with exhaustion, "Naruto, I doubt he's going to let us out…" She was already feeling the effects of having her chakra drained and soon the others were feeling the effects as well. One by one they lost the energy to hold themselves up and had to either sit down or couch down.

"I feel like all my energy is draining out of me…" Naruto said in an exhausted whisper.

Ryoko weakly nodded, "Yeah, it feels harder to breath too…even that is exhausting."

Neji used his Byakugan to see through them and saw that their chakra was very much draining, "Something must be done Shikamaru and quickly."

Kiba began to grow anxious as he moved around to check for weaknesses, not being able to stand doing nothing anymore; he took out a food pill and gave one to Akamaru. He activating their signature Taijutsu of Beast Mimicry and used their Fang over Fang to drill holes all over the inner dome. Simultaneously they moved in sync with each other causing lots of damage, creating holes and dents bigger than the last.

Finally the jutsu came undone when Akamaru couldn't move anymore. The dusk cleared and everyone surveyed the damage Kiba and Akamaru caused hoping that there was at least one way out.

However, there wasn't. Just like before the walls began to rebuild themselves. Some not completely as others and some not as fast as others, but they were still rebuilding.

"ugh…if that didn't work we're going to have to get creative." Ryoko sighed, "Anyone else have any ideas?"

No one said anything for a moment. Everyone else was either thinking of some way to get out or they're thinking of possibly giving up. But someone had an idea.

"Hey out there! Let me talk to your leader!" Shikamaru yelled at the wall, "I've got a deal to propose. What I'm thinking is that you let us all go…and in return we let you keep Sasuke."

The others eyes widen in shock when they heard Shikamaru's proclamation. Why would he make that kind of deal when the whole reason they were here was to retrieve Sasuke?

"Huh?"

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?"

Jirobo chuckled from the outer side of the dome, "No deal. I've never let a captive escape before and I'm not about to start now."

"Aw, come on…" Shikamaru groaned, "Listen, how about you just let _me_ go and you keep the others."

If their eyes weren't wide before, they're wider now. They couldn't believe what Shikamaru was saying. They began to sense some sort of betrayal happening.

Ryoko growled and stood on her feet, "Shikamaru, you prick."

"All this fighting…" He continued to drawl, "I'm _tired_ of it. It's really not my thing."

Kiba growled and stood to his feet as well, "Why you little- if you're selling us out I'm gonna wring your neck!" He threatened.

"Shut up Kiba." Shikamaru retorted, "For once in your life…"

"What's that you say?"

From the outside they could hear Jirobo laughing at them, "Heh, heh, heh, so much for teamwork…so you're really the leader huh? What a fine example you're setting for the rest of your team." He continues to chuckle, "you start to see a man's true character when he's pushed to the edge of death. But you're hardly man at all, certainly not one who's worthy of leading a team of ninja into battle…" As he continued to mock Shikamaru, Choji grew angrier by the second, "Sacrificing Sasuke and the rest of your squad, ha, so that's how a leaf Chunin acts." He's wrong however. "Did you really think I was going to let you out? You deserve to die."

Naruto couldn't help but get riled up, "That doesn't Shikamaru, you dirty little traitor! Let's take this outside right now! You and me!"

"What do you mean 'take this outside'?" Kiba asked sarcastically, "How are you going to do that you idiot? We're trapped in here!"

Naruto growled and turned his anger on Kiba, "Grr! What did you call me?"

Kiba grabbed Naruto by his jacket, "I called you an idiot, idiot!"

Naruto brought Kiba into a headlock, "That's what I thought you said!"

Soon the two of them began to wrestle and yell at each other. Steadily getting on everyone's nerves.

"Grr! Will you two idiots focus on the task at hand?" Ryoko yelled.

"Stay out of this, Ryoko!" The two boys retaliated.

"Everybody just shut up!" Choji yelled over them.

The three of them stopped their bickering and look at him. "Choji?"

Shikamaru sighed softly and went into his meditative thinking stance.

"What's Shikamaru doing?" Naruto asked, "Is he meditating or something? Why is he just squatting there?"

"I think he's thinking of a plan…" Ryoko guessed, remembering she saw that stance when Shikamaru fought against Temari during the Chunin Exams.

Choji followed through by pulling out a bag of chips and began noisily eating them. When Naruto heard him eating he immediately turned to him, "Argh! You gotta be kidding me! Is that all you ever think about?"

"That's Choji for you." Kiba sighed, "Responds to any situation by stuffing his face. He's a real big help." He added sarcastically.

Ryoko was suddenly struck with a thought, "Wait…Choji is a big help…" She whispered. "…Taijutsu based attacks might get us out of here."

"What are you talking about? Kiba's attack obviously didn't work. I'm going to give Shadow Clone jutsu a try!"

"It won't work." Neji said, stopping him, "This dome will eat your chakra away, you'll only succeed in depleting your own chakra." He explained, "Ryoko is correct. Taijutsu based attacks are our best option. We have to destroy this thing in one blow."

Kiba started to see some sense in what they were saying, "Well, Choji has Taijutsu with a knock out punch even stronger than mine…just look at him….he's got other things in mind…"

Naruto grew even more impatient, "So what? Are we just going to stand here?"

"Neji." Shikamaru called, gaining their attention, "I need you to focus those eyes of yours directly on the wall behind you and directly on the one behind Choji…do you think you have enough chakra to do that?"

"I think so." Neji replied.

"Kiba…" Shikamaru whispered, trying not to speak too loudly so Jirobo couldn't hear their possible plan, "…are you up for trying to put another dent in the wall behind Choji?"

"Sure, I guess." Kiba responded a little unsure. He clapped his hands together, "Heh, I don't know what you're up to but I'm always up for the chance to go wild!" He jumped into the air and twisted his body, "Ah! Tunneling Fang!" He yelled, twisting his body in a rapid motion, drilling himself into the wall behind Choji. When he created enough dents, he stopped his attack and landed back in his original spot slightly out of breath. Neji stepped up and used his Byakugan to look at the holes that were rebuilding themselves. He caught onto something strange with the timing of the dents rebuilding themselves.

"Yes, I see it. That's the spot."

"Okay, mark the spot with your kunai knife, will you?" Shikamaru asked, "Choji. Are you ready buddy?"

Choji stepped up with a confident smile, "Shikamaru, I was born ready!"

"Good. Then let's get started."

"Wait! Get what started?" Naruto asked, completely confused as to what was going on.

"It's as I said before." Neji began to explain, "This wall surrounding us has been infused with chakra." He pulled out a kunai knife, "However, the strength of the chakra isn't in uniform, some parts are weaker than others. Shikamaru was able to figure that out."

Ryoko clued in, "So when Kiba was attacking all those times, Shikamaru was watching studying the walls and saw that some parts of the wall were repairing more slowly than others."

Neji threw his kunai into one of the holes that were taking a longer time to rebuild itself.

"That lead him to suspect that it was at those points the chakra was the weakest." Neji finished, "That's when he planned that ruse to get the enemy to speak to find out where his was outside the wall…and it worked, the chakra flow is at its thinnest opposite of the enemy's position…That's about right, isn't it?" Neji asked.

Shikamaru nodded, "It's up to you now Choji."

"Okay!" Choji weaved his hands together, leaving his index and middle fingers upward, "Expansion Jutsu!" He expanded his size a little more slightly, "Alright! Here we go!" Using his chakra he jammed his arms, legs, and head into his body and turned into a ball, "Human Bolder!" He rammed into the weakest side of the wall and rolled against it with amazing strength and force! From the outside Jirobo felt that Choji might've been breaking through and tried to apply more chakra to the dome to keep him sealed in, but Choji's strength and determination blew right through the wall! As soon as there was an opening the others ran outside to face the outer dome with victorious smirks on their faces. They immensely enjoyed it when the entire dome came tumbling down.

Shikamaru smirked, "Well, Choji…there's no other way of saying it…that was awesome!"

"Yeah, you really prove that chubby's rule!" Ryoko complemented.

Choji smiled happily from the praise.


	28. Full Throttle Power! Choji, Ablaze

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. I've got chicken flavored ramen, my cozy blanket, comfy slippers, my Gaara plush watching over me as I type and the Naruto guide in front of me... ©Masashi Kishimoto.

I wasn't sure how to go about this chapter; I didn't know whether to put Choji's battle in or not, but decided to put bits in between and see how that goes and if people don't like it I might change it but I don't want to because whenever I go back to change a chapter more things get changed and things mess up and I don't want to go through that all again. I move forward and never go back….unless I drop something important then, yeah, I have to go back and get it.

Anyway enjoy and see you all at the bottom! For the Ninja rap to celebrate Day of the Ninja. If you want to know what the day is and what it's about send a review or message me.

Thank yous!:

Jennku

Persiii

leogirl321

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper

Yachiru Hatake

SasukeLuver

Princess Kitana18

awesome kunoichi

Malaika

Princesa de la Luna

Song of my day: Go Ninja! Go Ninja go! - Vanilla Ice

* * *

The young Konoha Shinobi stood behind the rubble of the enemies barrier Ninjutsu waiting for the next plan of action.

"He's by himself…" Shikamaru observed noticing that the other Sound Ninjas were gone along with the coffin that had Sasuke in it.

"Guess the others went on ahead." Ryoko muttered irritated, "Just when we finally caught up to them…"

Neji activated his Byakugan and surveyed the area, "You're correct, they're no where to be seen."

"There's no telling how far they've gotten so we better take this guy down quickly if we want to catch up to them." Ryoko said to Shikamaru.

At the sound of her plan Jirobo clapped his hands as a sarcastic applaud, "Not a bad bit of handy work you guys…for a bunch of losers." He added in the end, railing Kiba and Naruto.

"Hey!" Naruto snapped.

"Who are you calling losers?" Kiba snapped back offended as he charged towards Jirobo along with Naruto. "Now that we're out – you're toast pal!"

"Out of the way!" Naruto yelled at him, "This guy is mine!"

"Wait you two! Stop!" Neji ordered, successfully stopping both Kiba and Naruto in their tracks. "There's no way we can take him head on." He told them, "It's too dangerous."

"We just tore through this clown's barrier." Kiba pointed out, "How tough can he be?"

"We had a hard enough time breaking out of his barrier." Ryoko pointed out as well, "For all we know he could be plenty tough." She gestured to his body, "I mean, look at the guy! There could be muscle under that blubber."

Jirobo growled when he heard her 'fat' comment, "You wanna die first little girl? I'll eat you guys for lunch."

Ryoko and Kiba growled and got into a defensive position, "Try it!"

With surprising speed, Jirobo charged at Kiba first, tackling him with his broad shoulder, "Shoulder Charge!" When he knocked Kiba down, he went for Ryoko next and kneed her in the stomach when she had her guard dropped, "Crushing knee!"

Ryoko fell on her stomach with a grunt beside Kiba who was lying in his back in pain.

"You wouldn't even do as an appetite," Jirobo said clasping his hands together in a seal jutsu before slamming his left palm onto the earth ground, the force of his strike cause some of the earths raise in a tunneling formation, making its way towards Kiba and Ryoko.

"Earth Style Barrier: Earth Dome Prison!"

Choji quickly jumped into the front lines and mad a hand seal, "Expansion jutsu!" He increased his size to turn into his human bolder form. "Human Boulder!" But instead of spinning forward or in reverse like he usually does, Choji spun almost like a spinning top, picking up dust to give his teammates some cover.

Jirobo watched on confused as to what they could be planning, but when the dust cleared, the young ninja were gone! "Huh, hardly worth the effort."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Mean while in hiding…

Naruto, Choji, Shikamaru, Neji, Ryoko, and Kiba sat in a small circle surround by tall bushes and trees for cover.

"We're running out of time…" Shikamaru told them gravely, "There's no choice – we gotta split up."

Everyone gasped a little in shock that he suggested such a risky move.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Shikamaru?" Ryoko asked, so many things could possibly go wrong if they were to split up.

"No, he's right." Neji confirmed, using his Byakugan to see Jirobo standing motionless not too far from their position. In such a hasty get away, the young shinobis could go too far. "With all out Chakra taken away…even with the five of us against him…he's not going to be easy to take out and with every second that passes Sasuke gets closer to the border…one he crosses it…it will all be out of our hands. So we should split into two groups… one to stop him and one to follow Sasuke." He suggested getting a confirmed nod from Shikamaru.

"You'll head the second team." Shikamaru said to Neji, "Okay, Neji?"

Before Neji could agree the earth shook under them and a tree fell towards Naruto who jumped out of the way in time. The others cursed when they realized Jirobo had found their hiding spot.

Jirobo smirked maliciously when he spotted them, "So there you are."

Shikamaru turned to Neji, "Neji, take Kiba, Ryoko, and Choji and head out after Sasuke."

Neji nodded, "You got it."

"Naruto and I will take this guy down!"

"What are you going to do?" Jirobo mocked, "Play with my shadow again? Don't waste my time, kid, you already showed me you parlor trick and once was enough."

Shikamaru kneeled into his Shadow Possession Jutsu position, "That's funny. I seem to remember someone around here being taken in by that parlor trick." He stretched his jutsu through the rocky rubble towards Jirobo and allowed his shadow to disappear in the cracks of the rocks and willed it to reappear behind Jirobo as a sort of sneak attack. However Jirobo caught on to the trick and disrupted the jutsu by slamming his palm into the earth again, causing the earth to rise up around him. When the dust picked up, Neji used his Byakugan to scan the area up ahead and saw that Jirobo was gone, "He's disappeared!"

Kiba sniffed around in search of Jirobo's scent. When he caught it he yelled in alarm, "He's behind us!"

Everyone turned around in time to see Jirobo lift a very very very large chunk of earth from the ground and held it above his head! The chunk of rock was 5xs his own size!

Naruto's eyes turned white with fear, "ARE YOU INSANE?"

With overwhelming strength, Jirobo tossed the giant earth plate towards the young shinobi, who in their best efforts tried to dodge by flash jumping away as far as they could. Luckily they landed safely away from the giant rock without any injury. However when they landed, they noticed that Jirobo wasn't in his original spot anymore. The earth shook again.

"Heads up you guys! There's another one coming!"

Everyone half expected another giant rock to fall from the sky but they were caught off guard when they saw a hand reach out from underground and grab Shikamaru by his ankle when he tried to jump away. Out from the earth Jirobo held Shikamaru upside down by his ankles.

"Heh heh! You're in charge of this rag tag bunch am I right? When you got an idiot for a leader the whole team suffers, know what I mean?" He hoisted Shikamaru higher, "You don't want a leader like him, let me get rid of him for ya." He mocked swinging Shikamaru around with one hand as if Shikamaru was a lasso rope and tossed him towards a tree. Choji quickly jumped into action and expanded his body to soften Shikamaru's blow before Shikamaru even hit the tree.

Jirobo sighed when he saw that Shikamaru was unharmed, "I try to help you guys out and what do you do…?"

"We don't need help from the enemy thanks." Ryoko replied sarcastically.

"I don't know which is more pathetic the fool or those who follow him. Tell ya what…you don't want to keep working under this shadow lover…I'll just kill ya now and put you out of your misery."

"Let's take this guy." Ryoko growled.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Naruto agreed.

"Naruto! Ryoko!" Choji yelled, stepping up. "I'll handle him…he's mine…" The dead serious expression on Choji's face was a sight to behold. Usually he was only that serious when it came to the last scarp of food and he's usually the first one who wanted to back out of a fight, but now…He was so serious it was almost scary.

"But Choji…"

"He's mine I said!" He was firm…he really wanted to go through with it. He reached into his back pouch and pulled out a little brown sack that was tied with a small string. He held it out towards Shikamaru to take, "Shikamaru…take this food pills for everyone." He said tenderly to his friend.

Shikamaru's eyes widen in shock, "Choji…you're not gonna…"

Choji smiled kindly, "Uh-huh…don't worry, I got my secret weapon with me." As he moved forward he handed Shikamaru the sack.

"Yeah, but this is…" Shikamaru trailed off as he watched his best friend and comrade walk on with determination.

"Oh, this is precious." Jirobo spat sarcastically before charging towards them, "You think I'm going to wait forever?"

"Heads up!" Naruto yelled.

"Enough of this! I'm taking you all out right here!"

Choji took point and covered for his friends, "Get going! Hurry!" He yelled as he pulled out a clear case that held three colored large pills in it: Green, yellow, and red. He flipped the lid for the green pill with his thumb, 'First the Green Spinach Pill…' Choji popped the pill in his mouth and crushed it between his teeth.

Jirobo continued to charge until he rammed right into Choji. Surprisingly, Choji held Jirobo off with just his fist!

"Shikamaru…!" Choji strained as he held off Jirobo, "…take everyone and get out of here!"

"Choji…"

"What…did the six of us join together for?...If we lose Sasuke…we'll be just like what this guy says we are…!" He continued to strain his words as he fought to hold Jirobo back, "A stupid idiot of a leader…and his band of rejects…!"

Choji's words hit home as Shikamaru swallowed his pride, "You better catch up with us Choji…you hear me…?"

"Yeah! Get out of here! Go already!"

"Alright. Let's get out of here guys!" Shikamaru ordered his team.

Unable to disagree everyone nodded, "Right!" And they flashed jumped away in the direction where the other Sound Ninja were headed with Sasuke.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

As they jumped further and further away, Shikamaru couldn't help but look back with worry, "Choji…"

"He'll be okay…Choji's tough." Ryoko assured him.

Shikamaru nodded and caught up with Naruto and Kiba.

"A parting gift from Choji…" He tossed the brown sack to Naruto, "…eat up."

Naruto caught the sack and opened it, "We owe you one, Choji…" He took out one food pill and ate it. He closed the bag and tossed it to Kiba next.

"Shikamaru…" Neji called as he took point in front of the line, "…that certain pill that we saw Choji take back there…what was his trump card? Do you really think he can win?"

Kiba passed the sack to Ryoko next after he and Akamaru had a pill. Ryoko caught it and took one out, "You're not doubting Choji already are you? If Choji says he can handle it then he can…" She tossed the sack to Neji.

"Don't worry; Choji's got some plan up his sleeve. He brought along with him the Akimichi Clan Secret Triple Threat." Shikamaru explained.

"What's that?" Naruto asked curiously.

"They're pills that grant a person explosive power…there are three of them…green, yellow, and red…the amount of energy each of those pills contain is absolutely massive."

"All of that into three pills?" Ryoko wondered.

Naruto smiled, "Ah I get it. So that's why he was acting so confident!"

Shikamaru however had a grave frown, _'Yeah, but any pill that well always comes with some kind of side effects…'_

The group switch the formation slightly because of the lost of one member. Kiba continued to take point with Ryoko behind him, Naruto behind her, Neji behind Naruto, and Shikamaru bringing up the rear. _'I hope he can settle things with the green pill alone…just don't take the red one Choji…what ever you do…'_

From behind Kiba, Ryoko heard Akamaru whimper. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"You know how Akamaru can tell an enemies strength just by his scent right? He's pretty worried that Choji might not be able to take on that gargantuan alone with just those pills to help him."

"He has right to be." Neji said, "If we're looking at it _objectively _that giant's ability is unknown…the chances of Choji defeating him may be close to zero."

Ryoko didn't like the sound of those chances, "Hey, do you mind keeping it on a positive note?"

Neji ignored her, "However…that's very often the case when facing the unknown in battle…"

Ryoko snorted, "Heh, well, I have faith that Choji _will _beat that giant and catch up to us. He's a leaf ninja…he has to make it through."

After a short pause Shikamaru spoke, "Neji's right…that's how a battle is and I knew from the beginning that this mission wouldn't be child's play…its life or death…I've already anticipated the worse case scenario where each of us have to fight alone and at this point if any of us are not ready to put our lives on the line for this we might not be able to reach Sasuke in time….Choji is good enough to hold his own and he doesn't have a lot of confidence…he thinks that out of all of us, he's the weakest link…"

"That's because he kinda is…" Kiba replied hesitantly, "I mean, anyone can see that."

Ryoko frowned, "I don't think that…everyone has a sort of strength…he stayed behind to help us…not to hinder us…"

Kiba ignored her comment, "Yeah, well, not everyone is as modest as you…"

"Shikamaru knows the real truth." Ryoko smirked looking back at Shikamaru, "You've been his friend since forever. You know the real Choji better than anyone."

Shikamaru smirked, "Yeah…more than anyone here…Choji's got strength and I believe in him!"

"Me too! Let's keep going for Choji!"

* * *

Alright, Happy Day of the ninja everyone!

Ninja, Ninja, RAP!

Ninja, Ninja, RAP!

Ninja, Ninja, RAP!  
GO! GO! GO!  
Go Ninja, Go Ninja, GO!

Go Ninja, Go ninja, GO!  
Go Ninja, Go Ninja. GO;

Go Ninja, Go ninja, GO!  
GO! GO! GO! GO!

Lyrics, fill in the gap  
Drop that bass and get the NINJA RAP  
Feel it, if you know what I mean  
Give it up for those heroes in green (Konoha Shinobi)  
Just flowin, smooth with the power  
Kickin' it up, hour after hour  
Cause in this life there's only one winner (Ninjas)  
You better aim good so you can hit the center (Kunai and Shuriken/ fighting enemies)  
In it to win it, with a team of four (All teams have four members)  
Naruto Ninja that you gotta adore

(I added Naruto Ninja in there.) Bye!


	29. I'll always believe in you!

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. I've got chicken flavored ramen, my cozy blanket, comfy slippers, my Gaara plush watching over me as I type and the Naruto guide in front of me... ©Masashi Kishimoto. From here on out I'm writing all of this from the top of my head! You all think I know what I'm doing here, but honestly I don't! I don't deserve the kind words…but they do make me happy! ^.^

This is actually 2 episodes shorten into one, so its not very long and I spent some of x-mas trying to finish it, so sorry for those who want long chapters this time around. I got some goodies for x-mas that I want to play with, but I wanted to get this done first.

Merry X-mas everyone and Happy New Year and what ever other holiday and religion you celebrate!

Thank yous!:

Jennku - So nice to hear from my loyal reader! ^.^

Persiii

leogirl321

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper

Yachiru Hatake

SasukeLuver

Princess Kitana18 - Thanks for the cookies! *gives anime shaped cookie* For you for your tasty review!

awesome kunoichi

Malaika - (Go to bottom for your review response.)

Princesa de la Luna - Sadly its not a very long chapter. I'll try harder next time! Promise!

TheDevil - Here's chapter 29!

Kanna's Master -

Song of my day: 12 pains of christmas!

* * *

Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, Ryoko, and Neji came to a stop on Shikamaru's orders. They managed to cover more ground in their attempts to catch up to Sasuke, but Shikamaru wanted to make a quick stop. He pulled out a kunai and bent down before a tree in front of him and began to carve in the bark.

"What are you doing, Shikamaru?" Ryoko asked.

He continued to carve into the tree, "It's for Choji. He promised us that he would catch up to us. Trust me, he will beat that guy." He stood up to finish his carving while the others stood guard, watching for anything. "And when he does he'll come and find us."

"Yeah! No doubt about it, if anyone can beat that guy its Choji!" Kiba said confidently.

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Well as long as we've stopped…" Ryoko reached into her pouch and pulled out a kunai, "I want to leave him something too." She squatted down near Shikamaru's leg and started to carve into the tree.

Kiba and Naruto followed her and began to carve into the tree as well, leaving their own personal mark. Neji didn't partake, instead he smiled and waited for them to finish.

"Alright, everyone." Shikamaru said, "Let's get moving and catch up with Sasuke."

He took off quickly with Neji and Ryoko following right after him. Naruto and Kiba were caught off guard by the sudden departure and quickly finished up what they were doing to catch up with their fleeting members.

"Hey! Wait up!"

-0-

As they continued on, they marked trees for Choji to show the direction they were heading. They didn't care if they lost a few minutes each time they stopped. They were happy to lose hours as long as Choji would come back to join them.

As they continued on, Ryoko had a paranoid feeling worming in her stomach. She wasn't sure if everyone else felt it, but there was a huge spike in chakra from far behind them where Choji was fighting…and then both spikes dropped drastically. She stole a glance at Shikamaru, noticing a nervous sweat dripping from his brow. She could only assume that he felt what she had. One chakra source completely disappeared and they assumed one was dead and they prayed with everything in them that it wasn't Choji's.

"Shikamaru? What's wrong?" Naruto asked when Shikamaru looked as though he saw a ghost.

Shikamaru didn't say anything for a moment, "It's nothing…"

"How far are we from them now?" Ryoko asked changing the subject as they continued on with an even pace.

Akamaru sniffed three times before barking.

"We're getting close." Kiba told them.

On cue, Neji activated his Byakugan to cover the distance. As he looked ahead, he didn't see any sign of the remaining Sound nin.

"That's strange. It's been quite a long time and we still haven't encountered a single trap…Well Shikamaru…what's your assessment?"

"Well, it looks to me we've been underestimated…they're cocky…they think we're all dead now and their big guy is the only one following them. They don't need to set a trap for their own man."

Naruto growled at the thought of being underestimated, "Those idiots…! They think we're so weak…!"

Neji felt the mutual feeling, he didn't like to be underestimated either, "It seems you're right about our enemy, Shikamaru…an its insulting to be underestimated like this…but still…this could be our chance."

They dropped down to a lower level in the trees before continuing on.

"I hear ya…now we can take them by surprise." Ryoko smirked.

"What do you have in mind?" Shikamaru glanced at her in question.

Ryoko sent Shikamaru a knowing look, "How well are you in transformation?"

"Fine. Why do you ask?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-00-0-

The three remaining Sound Four jumped as fast as they could through the trees with the four armed man, Kidomaru, carrying the coffin that contained Sasuke on his back bringing up the rear. The leader, Sakon (or Ukon) turned his head to look behind him.

"Jirobo is pretty late, isn't he?"

"He was but he just arrived." Kidomaru said with a creepy smile on his face as he looked below him to see Jirobo catching up to them.

"Well, it's about time," Sakon quipped, "You were gone a while. What took so long?"

"Sorry," Jirobo apologized, "It took longer than I though to eat all their chakra."

Sakon continued to analyze Jirobo. Something didn't seem right to him.

Tayuya frowned at him, "Listen, fattso…don't slow us down so you can eat more." She said in a berating tone, "You see that coffin?" She asked gesturing to the coffin Kidomaru was carrying with his extra arms, "You're the one who's supposed to be carrying it! So do your job, you slob!"

Jirobo was silent for a moment before agreeing. There was a slight twitch in Tayuya's eyes. Sakon's glare grew even fiercer. He had caught on as to what was going on as well as Kidomaru.

"Well, well, Jirobo, aren't you awfully easy going today?"

"Yeah? So what?" Jirobo questioned as if it wasn't a big of a deal when in reality it possibly was.

Kidomaru came to a stop on one of the branches and turned around to keep the coffin out of Jirobo's way, "Well it's just that I'm not going to be handing over this coffin to you because you're not the real Jirobo!" He yelled tossing the coffin over to Tayuya.

As the coffin turned in mid air, out of nowhere a flash of black and red caught the coffin.

"Ninja steal!" Ryoko cheered. (My friends and I do that at school)

She landed on a branch away from the Sound nin with as slight wobble in her handing. "Whoa! How much does this guy weigh?" She asked trying to get a firm grip on the coffin.

"You little brat!" Tayuya hissed, jumping off her branch to go after Ryoko with Sakon following her.

Shikamaru engaged battle with Kidomaru and dispelled the jutsu, "Run, Ryoko!"

Ryoko nodded, "Right!" She turned around and flashed jumped through the trees with the enemy chasing after her.

-0-0-0-0-0-

While Ryoko was running away, the others had issues of their own to deal with. Kidomaru had managed to trap both Shikamaru and Naruto in spider web traps. Part of Naruto's plan was to be captured on purpose while Kidomaru was falling in mid air so that Kiba and Akamaru could attack him when he couldn't dodge in mid falling. However the plan turned on them all when Kidomaru was able to maneuver and dodge Kiba and Akamaru's Fang over Fang attack. Landing on separate branches, Kiba and Akamaru were stuck. Kidomaru had thought ahead of them and had coated the branches in spider webs. Trapping their legs.

While Kidomaru hung upside down from his threads, he chuckled victoriously when he saw that he had the upper hand now that he had most of the team captured. However he had forgotten Neji who was coming from behind to attack, but at the last moment, Kidomaru had sensed the attack and successfully dodged him by severing hid webs and moved to another branch. Spitting out a wad of thread from his mouth and after kneading it, he used his chakra to create a capture spider net that caught Neji.

"How would you like to see an air tight cocoon?" Kidomaru asked, whipping his threads around to seal Neji into a tight cocoon.

"No!" Naruto yelled, pulling a kunai out of his pouch with his only free hand and tried to use the kunai to cut the thread, but no matter how hard he tried, the thread wouldn't cut – it was too rubbery. "What the heck is this stuff made of? I can't cut it!"

Kidomaru chuckled amusedly, "It's useless. My spider silk is so powerful, nothing can break it. Two elephants couldn't pull it apart." (So how about three plus a monkey?)

From inside the cocoon Neji was using his Byakugan to see the chakra flowing through the threads. He was amazed and terrified by the fact that even though severed from its host, the chakra still continued to flow through the threads to give power. For a moment he felt overwhelmed by the advancement of this technique but he reminded himself to calm down and focused his chakra to his hand.

On the outside of the cocoon, Kidomaru was slowly eliminating Naruto's clones one by one as a sort of game to find the real one. When he finally came to the last one he threw his weapon at him and when for a moment he thought he had killed Naruto, he was confused when the last Naruto had turned into a puff of smoke.

"What? Then where's the real one?"

From behind him the real Naruto gave a battle cry before aiming a punch to the back of Kidomaru's head, however, Kidomaru used his extra arms to block Naruto's fist. Using his threads he tossed Naruto away but held onto Naruto's hand with a thin piece of thread, "You're not so dumb after all." He tugged on the thread, "But you're still at the end of your rope!" He tugged on it harder, pulling Naruto off his branch and towards him.

Luckily for Naruto, Neji jumped in at the last moment to sever the thread with his hand.

"How did he-?"

"Naruto!" Neji yelled grabbing Naruto around the waist and used his momentum to push Naruto to where the others were freed and safe, "Thanks for stalling him for me."

Kidomaru glared murderously at Neji, angered that he had some how escaped his trap, "I trapped you. How did you get free?"

"You're spider web had a chakra base..." Neji explained, "…and chakra built substances don't stand a chance against my gentle fist attack."

Kidomaru absorbed that information.

While they had a moment Neji talked to his team, "This guy's jutsu…I think I'm the only one who can handle it…" The winds shifted as Neji spoke softly yet determinedly, "Go on guys…I'll handle him."

Sensing danger in the wind, Akamaru whimpered and rubbed against Kiba's leg. Kiba bent down to console his partner.

"Hey, what's wrong, Akamaru?"

When Kiba bent down low enough, Akamaru jumped into his coat and hid in there. Kiba knew what that meant, "Well, this guy must be stronger than that big guy we fought before…much stronger…"

"We're going to have go to one on one if we're going to have any chance of success." Neji said, "Isn't that what you said?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Yeah, that's what we agreed."

"And besides…" Neji trailed, "…Ryoko is alone with two others…it won't be long until she's over powered…the longer we stay here we won't be able to catch up to Sasuke and Ryoko."

"But what about Choji?" Kiba added hastily, "He still hasn't caught up yet."

"We all embarked on this mission to bring Sasuke back home to the village, but that's not the only reason we've come. We're all on this mission to protect a fellow Shinobi to protect the bond of the Hidden Leaf Village…At the third Hokages funeral when Iruka spoke do you remember his words?" Neji asked them.

Naruto's eyes darken with thought. He remembered that day clearly. He remembered the hurt, the pain, the tears, and the words. "Listen, Sasuke's out there right now heading towards Orochimaru. We cannot allow such evil to take someone from our village…that is not our way…"

Naruto looked at Neji at the familiarity of his words. Neji returned his look, "Naruto…sometimes your eyes are better than mine." Naruto's eyes widen by the declaration, "Where ever he is…Sasuke is in darkness…" He turned around to face his opponent Kidomaru, "Now get going…I'll be right behind you…"

Although they didn't want to, they reluctantly stood up and prepared to depart from Neji.

"Alright. Let's do this thing." Shikamaru encouraged.

"When you catch up make sure you bring Choji too." Kiba said.

Neji nodded, "Of course I will."

With the same heavy hearts they had when they left Choji, the three of them jumped into the direction where Ryoko ran off to with the coffin. As they departed they all looked back at Neji sending silent thoughts that he would be okay.

-0-

Ahead Ryoko jumped through the trees as though her life depended on it. She could sense Tayuya and Sakon gaining on her tail, but she continued on as fast as she could with extra weight in her arms. _'I won't let them have you Sasuke! I won't let Orochimaru have you! You're coming back home with us – I don't care if you hate me for the rest of our lives… You're coming back to the Leaf Village with us!'_ She looked behind her, _'But first I gotta shake these two off my tail and get back to Shikamaru and the others…'_

* * *

**Malaika – In response to your review – creating a story comes from ones imagination, free time, and determination. To create a story on you must first sign up to the site: The blue bar up there with the logo, on the…right hand side…? Next to the sign in. Here's the fun part, create your author name, One for fun or one to reflect you. Give your email address, create a password, re-type the password. Accept the terms of service and policy and yes, to being 13 years old and sign up! ^.^ After that they should take you to your account page where you may set things to tickle your fancy. Next to the account tab is the Publish tab and they have a guide there to help you. Around there, there should be a grid with the guide, Document Manager where you upload your story and chapters, and New story, ect. Click on the guidelines and agree to the terms so you can get writing! ^.^**

**From then on it should be straight foreword, but if you have any questions, contact me. But get logged in and send me messages through my homepage.**


	30. Miscalculation: A New Enemy Appears!

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for the delay folks. No need for excuses I'm sure you heard them all so instead I'm just going to write the thank yous and meet you all at the bottom! Ja~ne!

Thank yous!:

Jennku (^.^ My loyal reader!)

Persiii – Thanks for loving!

leogirl321 – It was a NejNaru moment wasn't it! ^.^

ichigo's-lover-soulreaper – DATTEBAYO!

Yachiru Hatake – Thanks for the kind words!

SasukeLuver

Princess Kitana18

awesome kunoichi

Malaika – Thanks for enjoying. I try to add my own touches here and there even though they're subtle.

Princesa de la Luna

Shifuni

hinatablueeyes708 – I shall keep updating even if it annoys me! I mean kills me! I mean…brings me joy!

Kiyoshi Kozue – Thanks for alerting!

SilverMistKunoichi – Sorry your reading capabilities aren't up to par. If you want to watch the anime than read this than go ahead. No one is stopping you.

TheDeavil

MakiUchia – Thank you! I'm glad someone likes that I gave Gaara someone. *Cries* She does have a purpose! Others think she's going to be like Matsuri but she isn't! Akki has a purpose! It just didn't come up yet! (Not yelling at you)

Suzaki Hatake – Oh gosh! Really? Wow! I'm so honored! . *Head explodes*

Breanna – You want more – Here it is! Hope you enjoy!

Song of my day: Vocaloid - Honey Honey

* * *

Ryoko thanked the Hokages above that the two sound Sound nin haven't caught up to her yet but she was growing weary that her friends haven't caught up yet either. Night quickly (In the show anyway) came and passed and she managed to catch her breath and readjust the coffin in her hand for a few short minutes before she continued on with the game of 'keep away'. She felt the chakra signatures grow closer around her and she realized the she finally may have been caught. It was fight or flight now.

With the coffin gave a little kick she stopped on the next branch and placed Sasuke's coffin down before turning around to face her opponents. Sakon and Tayuya.

"I believe you have something that belongs to us." Sakon/Ukon said menacingly.

Ryoko glared back at him, "Sorry, but Sasuke belongs to me. I ninja stole him fair and square. If you want him back you're going to have to take us all on."

"Us?" Sakon inquired.

Tayuya looked behind them and saw that Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba caught up to them, "Take a look. Of course when we need them there's no sign of the other two."

"Who needs them?" Sakon got ready to pounce, "I can take them on all by myself!" He charged at them with overwhelming speed.

"Get ready!" Naruto yelled as he threw his kunai at Sakon.

Sakon easily dodged the kunai and made a hand seal. Seeing this Naruto quickly created one shadow clone to help him. Sakon undid his hand seal and went straight in for a punch. However Kiba and Shikamaru jumped at him in an attempt to cover Naruto while the clone helped create the Rasengan. Sakon used his Fist Barrage to quickly finish off Kiba and Shikamaru at the same time before going after Naruto. He was slightly caught off guard when he saw Naruto's chakra visibly in the palm of his hand, but he still went head on and when Naruto tried to attack Sakon with the Rasengan, Sakon disrupted the attack by grabbing hold of Naruto's arm. Naruto felt himself at a dead lock.

"Tunneling Fang!" Kiba drilled directly through Naruto (literally) and attacked Sakon.

However Sakon ducked out of the way in time. Only when he did, Kiba went over him and straight for Tayuya and Ryoko.

"So what? You think that's going to do you any good?" Sakon yelled jumping back into action.

When Tayuya made an effort to move towards Ryoko to grab the coffin, a thin shadow stretched along the tree branch and trapped her.

"Gr!" She grunted as she tried to move, "What hit me?"

Shikamaru revealed himself, "It's called the Shadow Possession Jutsu."

_'He's got me pinned down…'_ Her eyes trailed to see Kiba coming straight at her still. Kiba broke out of his jutsu in mid air to grab the coffin in a hand stand maneuver. While still having momentum he shifted the rest of his weight to give him more altitude to jump to a higher branch.

"Ryoko! Let's get moving!" Kiba called out to her.

"Right!" She ran after him leaving the enemy frozen behind her.

"No! Tayuya what are you doing? Go after them!"

Shikamaru used his jutsu to force Tayuya to stand her ground in front of Sakon.

"What are you doing? Get out of the way!" Sakon yelled at her when he realized he probably didn't have enough time to dodge her while he was still in mid air at his speed.

When the timing was right, Shikamaru released Tayuya from the Shadow hold in time for the two of them to crash into each other.

As soon as they were down the Genin set to work on getting the hell out of there. They jumped as fast as they could in the direction back to Konoha.

"They won't stay down for long." Ryoko panted, "Any moment now they'll come back. That silver haired guy is fast so we have to move faster."

"There's two of them left and five of us we can do this!" Kiba yelled.

"Five?" Naruto asked confused, "Where'd you get five? There are four of us."

Kiba looked at him as if he were stupid, "Me, you, Shikamaru, Ryoko, and Akamaru. Can't you count, Naruto?"

"What? That dog doesn't count!"

"What are you talking about? Of course Akamaru counts!"

Ryoko rolled her eyes annoyed, "Are you two really going to-"

Her words stopped in her throat when she saw Sakon behind them. "He's coming!"

Kiba threw the coffin to Naruto when he saw how fast Sakon was gaining on them. From below them they heard Akamaru barking. Shikamaru, Ryoko, and Naruto jumped overhead of him and kept moving.

Kiba kept back slightly giving orders to him, "Akamaru, once you've set the bombs get moving!"

Akamaru barked and went back to work on setting the paper bombs on the trees.

Sakon landed on a branch to gauge the enemy and he noticed too late that one of the paper bombs was set to go off near him. "Oh no!"

They others watched as the paper bombs went off one after another.

"Alright! He fell for it!"

"Akamaru! Nice work buddy!"

Akamaru barked proudly and jumped off the branch to get back to his master.

The trees toppled away one after another in a dead heap from the explosions. The smoke from the paper bombs rose from the fires and so did Sakon.

"Don't you mess with me!"

In the middle of his escape, Akamaru's leg failed him and he tripped near one of the paper bombs that didn't go off yet.

"Akamaru!" They cried when they saw that he lay dangerously close to the bomb.

"That's the last time you'll bark at me you mutt!" From under his long loose sleeve, Sakon used a wire to tie Akamaru securely to the branch.

Akamaru whimpered in pain when he felt the tightness of the wires digging into his coat. He whimpered even more when the paper bomb began to spark at the tip and quickly burned its way to the top.

Not willing to lose his dog, Kiba sprang into action, "Hang on!" He swung off a branch and air dove for his dog, not caring that Sakon was closing in on them.

The paper bomb soon went off and Ryoko, Naruto, and Shikamaru could only watch on in shock. Who got hurt? Did anyone survive? Did anyone manage to get away?

"Kiba! Akamaru!" Naruto cried loudly, causing his voice to crack slightly.

"I can't see them!"

"Wish we had Neji's Byakugan!"

When the smoke finally cleared they saw no one there.

"Darn it! Where are they?"

"You don't think…?"

They were interrupted by Tayuya giving a battle cry entrance, "You're mine!"

Ryoko's face fell, "Man, Kiba and Akamaru are still gone and we got another lunatic!"

Shikamaru turned to them, "Then there's no other option. I'll take her on while the two of you get going."

Naruto hesitated, "Shikamaru…"

Ryoko made a grab for the coffin "Let's get going, Naruto. We don't have-" Her words were caught in her throat when another sound nin landed gracefully on the top of the coffin. In one quickly elegant movement he managed to pull the coffin out of Ryoko's hands and jump away with it to another branch going back to the direction of the border. He was pale and had vivid green eyes, and shoulder-length white hair with two separate partings on either side of his face. He had two dots on his forehead. Under Orochimaru, he wore a specialized version of the traditional Sound-nin ensemble, consisting of a light lavender, loose-fitting, long-sleeved, zip-up shirt, black pants cut off around mid-calf, bandages wrapped around his ankles, traditional shinobi sandals, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist. He also wore two red, tube-like hair ornaments; one on either side of his head, securing two locks of his silvery-white hair. His Cursed Seal of Earth is applied at the base of his throat, where it is a circular pattern of three curved lines.

"Kimimaru…" Tayuya whispered almost fearfully.

"You were taking too long. Tayuya…Where are our other members?" He asked.

Tayuya ignored his questions and asked one of her own, "What are you doing here…? Your body should be…"

"My body is too devastated to move on its own. I used the power of my mind." He replied as if it were a simple matter.

Tayuya tried to keep a straight composed face, "No way…so you're cheating death?"

"I understand everything now…" Kimimaru stroked the lid of the coffin, "I've had a taste of Lord Orochimaru's dream…"

At the sound of the slippery snake's name set Naruto and Ryoko growling in anger, "Orochimaru?"

"This vassal…" He continued, "…is part of Lord Orochimaru's dream…it has the flesh he desires and you've taken too much time retrieving it." He glowered at her.

Shikamaru sighed weary, "Another freak to deal with…we gotta do this tactfully so…"

Naruto stood up and yelled with his fist raised, "I've had just about enough of this nonsense! I'm taking Sasuke back right now! C'mon Ryoko!" He yelled jumping into action.

Ryoko stayed back to talk to Shikamaru, "You're still going to have to fight that crazy chick anyway. Naruto and I will deal with his freak and try to get Sasuke back you do what you have to."

Shikamaru sighed almost irritated, "This is not going as I planned."

Ryoko looked at Kimimaru, "Nothing is going as planned so we'll do what Naruto does and play through. Sometimes it's good not to always think everything all the way through." She added lightly.

Shikamaru gave her a pointed stare, "I think now's kinda the important time to think things through…" He held his arms open and caught Naruto who came back flying due to his rash behavior.

"Grr! He's taking off with Sasuke!"

Indeed. Kimimaru had the coffin tucked under his arm and he was making his way out of there leaving Tayuya to deal with them.

"You cool with staying here with her?" Ryoko asked Shikamaru again.

Shikamaru sighed, "Yeah. We'll need a distraction if you two want to get by her. So listen closely you two and do what I do." He pulled out his kunai and raised it, "It's three on one we've got the advantage! If we gang up on her we got the advantage!" He yelled in an obvious dramatic way, "You two with me?"

Ryoko stood up with Naruto, "Yeah!"

"Let's get her!"

Tayuya scoffed, "Ha! It doesn't matter how many of you there are! You're still a bunch of morons!"

Ryoko pointed at her, "A bunch of morons that are going to beat you!"

"We have the power of team work on our side!"

"We'll show you!"

All at once the three of them charged at her with battle cries. Shikamaru gauged her with his Kunai and Tayuya matched him with her flute. While she was busy Ryoko and Naruto made it seem like they were both going in for the punch when in reality they aimed high enough to fly over her head. When they saw her confused expression they chuckled mockingly.

"Sucker!" They laughed sticking their tongues out at her before they jumped away laughing, "See you around, loser!"

Tayuya's eyes turned white with rage when she realized she had been humiliated, "That was a lousy trick! Teamwork my foot you conniving weasels!

-0-0-

Ryoko chuckled, "Heh, we tricked her good. Now we just have to catch up to the other guy, grab Sasuke and get the heck out of here…"

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered, "Hang in there…!" His determination to get his friend grew stronger as well as his chakra. It spike to such a degree that his nine-tail fox chakra was leaking out.

Ryoko noticed the change instantly thanks to sharp cat eyes, "Naruto…? You're about to fox out…"

"I know." He growled, "I just want to get to Sasuke fast."

"I understand that but try to conserve as much chakra as you can, okay?"

Naruto picked up his speed, "No promises!" He yelled jumping out of the last few trees and into the grassy opened field where Kimimaru waited with the coffin.

* * *

So it took a bit longer because I had four more story ideas buzzing around and so far for each I gots one – two chapters done for each of them. The stories are: Yu-Gi-Oh, Shugo Chara, MegaMan NT Warrior, and Pokémon. All were inspired by my favorite authors and one was from a dream. So yeah. Dunno if I'm going to post them, I'm going to write them out and see what happens. Since I'm growing in my writing a bit I wanted to delete my other stories since they're a mockery of how I used to write/type.


	31. Go get him!

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. ©Masashi Kishimoto.

The season is almost up everyone…I think. All there's left is the epic Sasuke fight. I've been talking to my friends about what to do about the Sasuke and Naruto fight and what would Ryoko be doing during that fight. One gave me a good idea…the other wants to be paired with Naruto…no matter how many times I tell her I'm too far into the story to just throw another character in there for Naruto, but just to be nice I'll work something out. New stories will be posted on my homepage soon. Hopefully as soon as my computer stops freezing long enough for me to write a few words. **If I write a Author's note of any kind I wrote it directly fom my phone most likely because my internet's down and I have no capablility to write an entire long chapter on my phone. I don't have amazing tecting abilites like some.**

I won't be able to write thank yous in this chapter because i'm rushing to get this up before my computer breaks down on me. I think its close to dying. (Its not a laptop.) I can't even listen or watch Youtube videos without the sound going out or the video speeding up or slowing down without sound. Sorry for the shortness, i will make up for it when my computer is fixed i promise!

Song of my day: Mobile Suit G Gundam - Flying in the Sky

* * *

Ryoko could only watch on and wait for some kind of opening to assist Naruto in his losing battle against the bone freak. She didn't want to get in Naruto's way when he's as Foxed out as he is. She might do more harm than good if she jumped in, plus he has all his Shadow-clones to help him out. Her back up plan was to wait it out long enough for Naruto to get Kimimaru away from the coffin so she could make a grab for it, but the bone freak was staying close by it even when fighting Naruto from close rang and long distance. She didn't like how fast he was thinning Naruto's clones. He was taking them out quickly and with precision and Naruto charging head on wasn't helping him one bit.

"What is this?"

"This is my Kekkei Genkai." He answered, unzipping his tunic to reveal his bare chest. From his shoulder a bone began to grow out of his skin. The mere sight of that sent disgusted chills down their spines. Kimimaru didn't even flinch when he grabbed his own bone and pulled it out the rest of the way.

"Dude…that's just sick…" Ryoko mumbled feeling weak in the stomach.

He showed them his sword-like bone, "This is no ordinary bone…" He began to explain, "It's of the highest density and as hard as tempered steel."

"So what?" Naruto growled, "I'm still going to break every bone in or out of your body!"

"You think so?" Kimimaru asked monotone, "I have five dances in my arsenal and you've only seen one."

"Yeah, whatever!" Naruto growled.

Ryoko's sensitive hearing picked up a sizzling sound. She looked at Kimimaru thinking it was him but instead it was the seal coffin. Black smoke was coming from the inside of it!

_'Is the coffin on fire? Is Sasuke trying to get out?'_ Hope rose within her that maybe Sasuke was fighting back after all. '_Hang in there Sasuke. We'll get you out as soon as we find an opening.'_

"Next I will show you the Camellia Dance." He swung his dagger like bone, "Come." He taunted.

Naruto was tempted to budge, "What are you waiting for?"

"You shouldn't make brash statements like that." He state calmly, "Especially when you can't back them up."

_'Please don't give into his taunting…'_ Ryoko prayed.

"Just shut up!" Naruto yelled charging head first with all his clones as usual. He wildly threw shuriken at Kimimaru.

Without much effort Kimimaru merely closed his eyes and used his bone dagger to deflect all of the shuriken, even cutting them perfectly in half!

Naruto and his clones stopped when they witnessed that. "How'd he do that?"

Kimimaru showed him his dagger again, "I already told you. My bone is stronger than normal ones." He crouched down ready to attack again, "I'll show you again how strong it is." Then without much warning he charged at the clones with his amazing speed, taking out Naruto's clones one by one.

Ryoko shifted a bit towards the fight debating if it was the right time to make a grab for the coffin while Kimimaru was destroying the clones. She feared that when got close enough Kimimaru would attack her next. Either her or Naruto had to get the coffin and it was her. If they both got caught in the fray then there's no way to get Sasuke out of there.

Five more of Naruto's clones disappeared and Ryoko was a little thankful that Naruto had lured him a little further away from the coffin. It was her chance! When fifteen more of Naruto's clones disappeared in a big cloud of smoke Ryoko made a dash for the coffin.

However Kimimaru's next words stopped her cold as soon as she was three feet away from the coffin.

"And then there was one…"

Ryoko turned around to see that only the real Naruto was left. 'Not good…'

"I wouldn't stand too close to that coffin if I were you, girl…" Kimimaru said to Ryoko with his back turned to her, "The time has finally come at last…the moment I've been waiting for…"

The smoke continued to pour out of the coffin at a faster rate, doing as advised, Ryoko thought it probably was best that she took a few steps back. Maybe Sasuke was trying to burst out on his own?

"The first step to achieving Lord Orochimaru's desire…" He trailed as the seals on the coffin completely melted away. Then in a burst of light, the coffin exploded!

Ryoko and Naruto shielded their faces from the light. When it dimmed down they removed their arms to see what became of the coffin. To their shock and awe they saw Sasuke standing there, with his back to them, unharmed despite the huge explosion.

Ryoko visibly relaxed and hope shined in her eyes.

Naruto's fox features completely melted away at the sight of his rival and friend. He even let his guard down and went back to his stupid self, "Hey, Sasuke! What are you hanging out with these losers for?" He waved his hand, "Come on, buddy! Let's go home!"

To what they least expected, Sasuke (should I put giggle or girlish cackle?) chuckled.

Ryoko's hope damped a bit by his behavior, "Sasuke…? Come on…What are you waiting for? Let's go home."

"Yeah." Naruto agreed, "Everyone's waiting for ya…"

"Sasuke still didn't respond to them.

"Sasuke…you hear us?" Naruto asked quietly.

Soon Sasuke began to laugh. A laugh unlike Sasuke…it was sinister. Sasuke actually tilted back and laughed his head off as if he heard the greatest joke.

That ticked them off. What the hell as he laughing about?

"Sasuke what's the matter with you?" Naruto yelled. "Have you gone deaf or something? Why won't you answer us?"

"If you don't say something right now I will personally kick your ass!" Ryoko yelled.

Without a word, Sasuke took off into the forest heading towards the border.

"Sasuke!" Naruto ran after him, leaving Ryoko behind.

Ryoko stayed planted on the ground, shocked at what had occurred. However when she saw Kimimaru making a move to attack Naruto, she intervened and match his bone with her kunai.

"Not another step." She growled her eyes turning cat-like, "You're taking me on." She sent a burst of her chakra to repel him back. Kimimaru skidded along the grass and crouched in a defensive stance before charging for her again. Ryoko braced herself to face him again, however she got the shock of her life when a green blur obstructed her view and sent Kimimaru skidding away.

'What in the world…?' Ryoko wondered when her eyes adjusted to what had occurred.

"It is I…" The familiar speech pattern rung in her ears, "…the Leaf Village's Handsome Devil…Rock Lee!"

"Lee!" Ryoko sighed in relief at the green jump suit clad ninja. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

"It is alright." Lee said not taking his eyes off his enemy, "The Hokage gave me the okay to join this mission. I am here to aid you."

Ryoko was unsure, "Really? Are you sure?"

Lee nodded, "Yes. Please sit back and allow me to handle this. You have done enough."

Ryoko shook her head and joined his side, "You should know that I won't stand by. We'll take him together." She said firmly.

Rock Lee blushed at her statement of fighting together, _'Yes! Fighting side by side with the beautiful Ryoko Koneko! My youth is paying off!' _He shouted in his head with glee.

"We're going to have to be careful." Ryoko informed him, "He uses his bones to attack."

Lee looked at her, "His bones…? Interesting…"

"More like gross beyond all reason."

Kimimaru had enough and attacked Rock Lee first wit h his dagger. Matching his speed, Lee caught the dagger with his hands. While he was caught Ryoko moved in and aimed a high kick in Kimimaru's face. Kimimaru easily dodged and pulled back.

"Ah…" He murmered with an amused looked, "Are you finally going to be worth my time?"

Ryoko smirked, "Believe it."


	32. Gotta take him down!

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. ©Masashi Kishimoto. I finally got my computer fixed! I think? I dunno but it's working and I'm taking advantage of it!

This is dedicated to a friend of ours who passed way due to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I hope he rests in peace and the one who killed him dies a painful death.

*A moment of silence for him* …now on with it!

A song for him: 'How could this happen to me?' (Even though it wasn't a car accident, it still brings tears to my eyes and it reminds me, because its almost the same principle how it happened.)

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Ryoko took the initial lead first with Lee following behind her. With battle cries they attacked Kimimaro with series of punches and kicks. Ryoko took aim at Kimimaro's upper half while Rock Lee aims for his torso and legs. Even out numbered, however, Kimimaro was able to fend both of them off with his bone dagger.

Ryoko aimed a punch to his chest and missed when Kimimaro jumped back. Lee recovered for her by trying a round house kick to him, but Kimimaro jumped out of the way. As he lands, both leaf shinobi aimed an upper cut to Kimimaro's chin, successfully knocking him off balance before he recovered again.

Lee got into his Leaf Hurricane stance, "Ryoko, please allow me to take point this time."

Ryoko nodded, "Okay. I'll follow through." She was actually amazed how well they were fairing together. They never fought together before against an enemy, so they were doing pretty good for just winging it.

Lee charged ahead and swept his leg under Kimimaro's feet. As predicted, Kimimaro jumped in the air to avoid the attack. Ryoko met him in the air and aimed a kick to his chest to miss when he pulled back. When he landed Lee was there to meet him and tried a spin kick to his head. Kimimaro ducked and avoided the kick. Ryoko tried another upper cut and Kimimaro gracefully pulled away just when Lee brought his leg down with tremendous force.

Ryoko growled in frustration, "This guy is too fast." She whispered to Lee, "We can't land a single blow. He keeps dodging! Even with our combined efforts we can't bring him down."

"Your style is too direct." Kimimaro informed her, "Almost obvious. Trying to over power me isn't going to work."

Angered by his words, Lee charged in first aiming a punch that terribly missed. Kimimaro merely stepped to the side! When Lee had his back turned Kimimaro aimed his dagger to Lee's back. Sensing the danger, Lee abruptly held out his hand to stop him.

"One moment please!"

Ryoko was surprised that Kimimaro actually listened! _'Since when do the bad guys listen?'_

"I am terribly sorry, but I have to take my medicine at a certain time and that time is now." Lee explained.

Ryoko fell over in shock, _'Is he serious? Now? In the middle of battle?'_

"I am sorry." Lee apologized again reaching into his pouch to pull out a white bottle similar to a sake bottle.

Kimimaro accepted his request and stepped back to give Lee a moment to take his medicine.

_'Well at least he's somewhat respectful.'_ Ryoko thought, watching them.

Lee tilted his head back and downed the whole bottle of liquid with loud gulps. Once finished he winces at the taste saying it was the worst tasting medicine.

Then he began to act strange. He legs turned almost jelly like and he looked as though he couldn't hold himself up anymore. He began to sway and mumble like some kind of loopy drunkard.

"Uh, Lee? You okay?" Ryoko asked when Lee dropped the bottle and began giggling as a blush covered his cheeks. _'Yeah, he's not okay.'_

"Of course I am sweet-cheeks! Let me take care of the bad guy!" Lee yelled, hiking up his leg into a different stance that Ryoko wasn't familiar with, "Wha- what are you starring at? You stupid jerk!" Lee yelled in a slurred speech as he stumbled over to Kimimaro with the intent to possibly hit him for starring at him.

"Lee! Are you drunk?" Ryoko yelled in a Naruto manner that made her voice crack.

Lee fell over due to his vision being lop sided. When he rolled his head to see Kimimaro and charged at him with greater speed than ever before! "Don't you know how impolite it is to stare?" He yelled swiping his leg at Kimimaro's face.

The attack came really close, but Kimimaro barely manage to dodge that time. Whatever Lee drank definitely increased his speed, not only was he able to land a few hits to Kimimaro but Kimimaro was forced to fight back to defend himself.

_'If being drunk was all it took to charge Lee up, we should've done this a long time ago.'_ Ryoko thought as she tried to keep up with their speed with her eyes.

"Allll this jumping around is to~tally messing with my head here!" Lee slurred as he fell backwards into a….sleep?

"Huh?" Kimimaro and Ryoko echoed.

"Oh what the hell it this?" Ryoko growled running over to Lee to check if he was really sleeping.

He was.

Ryoko heard Kimimaro making his way towards them. He stood at Lee's feet and made no sudden move to attack.

"I dare you to poke him." Ryoko said with all seriousness.

Perplex by her request, Kimimaro did what she said and raised his dagger to Lee's chest. In one swift movement, Lee grabbed the bone and mocked Kimimaro with a drunken laugh, "You fell for it!" He aimed a series of punches to Kimimaro's torso and a final kick that sent Kimimaro skidding across the plains on his back. "It looked like I was sleeping~ but in reality I was wide awake."

Ryoko smirked, _'Now I see. Neji told me about this accident when Lee drank sake. The Drunken Fist! When Lee drank a little bit of sake he destroyed an entire restaurant and it took him and Gai-Sensei to restrain him, now that he drank a whole bottle there's no telling what will happen!'_

Lee clenched his fist and cried tears of joy, "I did it Guy-sensei! All of your training has not been in vain!" Then he passed out again.

Ryoko sweat dropped, _'I take it back…he's hopeless…'_

"He really is drunk." Kimimaro observed, "In that case it won't be too much trouble sending him into the after life." Kimimaro took a daring stab at Lee's unconscious figure.

Then something bizarre happened. In his sleep, Lee dodged it by rolling over.

Thinking it was just a coincidence Kimimaro struck again and Lee dodged by rolling over again. Not liking this; Kimimaro tried again only faster.

The results were the same with Lee expertly dodging them by rolling around and at the last strike; Lee caught the dagger between his feet.

"How on earth is he doing that?" Ryoko wondered as she watched on in awe as Lee matched Kimimaro blow by blow. Even as a drunk he's a formidable opponent. The tables had officially turned now that Kimimaro was the one doing all the attacking while Lee was evading. With each strike he was growing more and more frustrated that he couldn't hit Lee anymore.

"Can't you see I'm trying to take a nap?" Lee demanded retaliating by double kicking him. While Kimimaro was recovering Lee charged again.

Kimimaro braced for the attack however he wasn't prepared for Lee to trip on his own feet.

Ryoko covered her face in embarrassment, "Oh Lee…"

Lee got up with a pained groan, "Ow…What'd you do that for?" He yelled at Kimimaro and started to attack him, "How dare you embarrass me like that in front of Miss Ryoko!" He yelled as he parried against Kimimaro's bone with his legs while walking on his hands. After knocking him off balance their moves became blurs again.

_'So fast.'_ Ryoko acknowledged, _'Faster than Neji and Sasuke…there are no pauses in their movements…'_

Lee dealt a hard blow to Kimimaro's torso. So much force in the hit that it cause Kimimaro to drop his weapon while he skidded across the grass.

When Kimimaro recovered from the blow he removed the other half of his coat so that his top was bare and that his curse mark was showing.

Lee and Ryoko's eyes narrowed when the curse mark glow a fiery red orange as it grew into what looked like crescent shaped moons linked to each other. Kimimaro lifted his left arm to show his bones shifting around under his skin before they ripped out of his flesh like claws.

Now things were getting a little more serious. Even Lee was aware of that in his drunken state after he nearly took a blow to the face when Kimimaro's protruding rib cage bones cut at his face. Since the immediate danger, Ryoko decided to step in. Lee was sobering up, now she had to take charge.

"Take a break Lee." Ryoko said when Lee sat up holding his head.

"Ugh, my head is pounding like a drum." He felt a trickle of blood run down his face. He wiped it off to look at the blood on his hand, "And why am I bleeding?"

"Too make a long story short, you got drunk." Ryoko supplied, "You managed to give Kimimaro a run for his money. He activated his curse mark."

Lee finally got a good look at Kimimaro and blenched at the sight of him, "Ah! What happened to you?"

"This is my Kekkei Genkai. It allows me to create new bones and use them to my will."

"Bone is bone!" Lee argues, "And one broken there is no mending it!" He prepared to attack until Ryoko stopped him.

"No! Breaking his bones won't solve anything. Just like his dagger he can make his bones really dense," She reminded him, "We're going to have to just fight him and take him down like before."

"Agreed!" Lee yelled as he ran full throttle towards Kimimaru, being mindful of his arm and rib cage. Ryoko follow after taking point to try to attack Kimimaro from behind where he can't possibly defend himself.

"Behold my Larch dance!" More bones protruded from Kimimaro's back, shoulder, and arms. Before the two Genin could react, Kimimaro spun around and stabbed them several times with his protruding bones, slicing into their skin and clothes before sending them away. Now both Lee and Ryoko lay on the ground defeated.

Believing he had killed them, he started to go after Naruto, but when he had his back turned he didn't see them rise again to launch another careless attack. He caught Lee's kick with his bones and Ryoko's fist with his hand.

"Your speed and determination are impressive…" Kimimaro complimented them monotone, "…but now it's over…" He was prepared to deliver the final blow until something amazing happened. Before their very eyes whips of sand stopped Kimimaro's attacking from dealing the final blow and if anything else saved them by grabbing them and pulling them away from Kimimaro while a giant boomerang knocked Kimimaro a good distance away from them.

"Who are you?" Kimimaro demanded when he recovered from the hit.

The boomerang came flying back to its owner, who expertly caught it with a satisfying smirk on her face, "We're allies of the Leaf Village…"

"We're Shinobi of the Sand…" finished a familiar raspy voice that rung in the Genin's ears very clearly.

Lee and Ryoko looked behind them to see that it was Gaara of the Desert and Akki who had saved them!


	33. The Sand Shinobi! Allies of the Leaf!

I fought through hills and mountains and over icy fields to get to this chapter. ©Masashi Kishimoto. Round 2! I was going to add a spoiler but i changed my mind! Cause i'm absolute evil! Nah, Shinra just took my documented plot before i could finish it. So now you all have to be good boys and girls and wait. I know how dare I! *slaps own hand*

Absolute thanks to Princesa de la Luna for PMing me about xyugiohluvrx figuring out how to upload!

Don't worry guys i didn't forget about the thank you reviews. Since the ending is coming up again, everyone will be thanked!

Song: Hall om mig nu -Nanne Gronvall

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The Sand Shinobi! Allies of the Leaf!

Ryoko smirked when she saw Akki again, "Well, aren't you a long way from the desert?"

Akki snorted slightly and returned Ryoko's smirk, "Well, aren't you a bit of the worse of wear? You Hokage sent an emergency letter saying you guys need some help retrieving Sasuke. Naturally we came as ordered."

Ryoko nodded appreciated, "I'm glad you two did."

She took in her two friends' new appearance. Gaara had switched his previous black overalls to a reddish-brownish one with longer sleeves and an upright collar. He kept the white cloth to support his gourd, but had fish-net on his wrists and ankles. Akki still sported her same hair style with the red ribbon. She traded her old outfit for a red vest coat that zipped down to her waist before splaying open, flaps meeting at her knees, to make it easier to move. She still wore black capris with the kunai pouch on her right leg.

Lee was still getting over the initial shock, "Gaara of the Desert…?"

"Gaara?" Kimimaro echoed as he stretched his limbs and bones before crossing his arms in an 'X' shape, "Is that what they call you?" Then in a blinding motion he uncrossed his arms, "Digital Shrapnel!"

Without even flinching, Gaara willed his sand to put up a medium sized wall to protect him, Ryoko, Lee, and Akki. From inside the wall Lee and Ryoko were surprised to see tiny bones burrowing their way through the sand to hit their target, only to fall short.

"Impulsive, aren't you?" Gaara asked, willing some of the sand to fall from the wall.

"Did he fire bones from his finger tips?" Akki asked them.

Gaara regarded her to look at Lee and Ryoko out of his peripheral, "You're different…you two used to fight with more agility and sprit."

Ryoko held up her hands, "Hey, it's been a long two days." Was her excuse.

Lee stood up and wiped the dirt of his face, "I figured you would say that. Not to hold a grudge but because of you I did have to go through a tough time."

Gaara recalled the sand back into his gourd, "Really?"

Ryoko brushed a stray hair out of her face, "Okay, now it's four on one. Maybe now we can take him."

"Yes!" Lee agreed getting into his stance.

Gaara peered at both of them, assessing their appearance and injuries. Anyone could see that both of them were in no shape to fight. Plus their current chakra levels were pitiful. It was a good thing he and Akki came when they did or else these two wouldn't have lasted another second.

"We'll handle this." Gaara told them.

Lee looked at him, offended. Did he suggest that he was going to fight while the rest of them stay back? Nonsense. That was not in their nature. "No please, just back us up." Lee said as he began to run. When Ryoko saw the sand shift under their feet, she decided to hang back as well. She remembered clearly how well Gaara controls that sand. Who wants to get on his bad side?

Lee didn't get far when Gaara's sand wrapped around Lee's ankle. Feeling the grip, Lee lost his footing and fell face first into the sand Gaara laid there to cushion the blow.

"I got sand in my mouth!" Lee's whine came muffled through the sand.

"I think there was a gentler way to stop him." Ryoko commented lightly.

"Would you rather Gaara knock him out?" Akki asked her in an easygoing tone.

Gaara walked past them to engage the enemy, "You two are in no shape to fight…Akki and I got this…" He casted Ryoko a look, "…where is Naruto…?"

Ryoko was caught off guard by the question but quickly recovered, "Uh, he went chasing after Sasuke a long time ago…"

"I see…" Gaara turned his attention back to Kimimaro, "…then you better hurry and catch up to him."

"Are you sure?"

"…you three share a special bond…something ties the three of you together…Uchiha…he means something to you, doesn't he?" Gaara asked, "…Akki and I will take over here…get going…"

"But…" Ryoko protested until Akki gave her a light shove.

"Go on. Naruto probably needs your help right now." She pushed Ryoko a little harder, "Hurry up and get your teammate back."

Knowing she was out voted, Ryoko bowed in gratitude and ran in the direction Naruto and Sasuke fled.

-0- (Now only because I'm such a Gaara lover, I'm going to write his fight! I don't care if it is biased of me to do that! I know some people are going to say: 'Why write Gaara's fight if you didn't write the others?' That's because they were long and I loves Gaara! And think of it this way, when I write about Ryoko you might understand why I did Gaara's fight! Spoiler: I did to waste daylight!) -0-

"If you're going to fight him, please do not let your guard down! He uses his bones to attack!" Lee warned Gaara.

Akki walked over to Lee and kneeled next to him, "Don't strain yourself too much. Gaara can handle this. He is the ultimate defense specialist."

Kimimaro was not impressed, "You're Gaara of the Desert…you wield sand – hence the name." He said willing his bones to retract back into his body. He stared at Gaara to engage his attack and defense. He noted that he's probably not the close combat type, so he's going to have a hard time getting close. He raised his arm to chest level and had it finger tip bones protrude from his tips.

Gaara saw this and had his sand attack. Kimimaro jumped up to dodge and launched his finger bones at Gaara. As an automatic defense, his sand wall shielded him. Kimimaro didn't stop either. As he maneuvered around the sand he launched a wave after wave of small bones. Some aimed at him, others at Akki and Lee. Akki used her giant boomerang as a shield for her and Lee.

After the last wave, Kimimaro landed away from them, "Gaara of the Desert. Rather a foolish nickname, isn't it?" He threw more bones at him, "You're nothing without that sand of yours!" Gaara launched more sand at him. "Why else would you go through the trouble of lugging it around?"

While Kimimaro was busy Gaara shot some of the sand he used into the air and when Kimimaro stilled for a moment he whispered, "Sand Shower…"

Hearing the name of the attack, Kimimaro looked above his head to see large particles of sand above him, "What a surprise." He said sarcastically as he tried to move out of the way to find that he couldn't. Gaara had trapped his legs in sand.

"The only fool here is you." Gaara told him as he out stretched his hand and slowing began to clench it, "As long as I have sand I can do anything. If I need more sand I can easily use the earth we're standing on to make more." He created a small sand coffin that continued to turn and shift around Kimimaro's body.

"You did it!" Lee cheered.

"Almost." Gaara said clenching his fist completely, "Sand Burial!" The sand around Kimimaro tightened completely. Specks of blood decorated the sand encased structure.

Lowering his hand Gaara's eyes never left where Kimimaro was sealed, "I don't like the looks of this guy. He's got the same eyes as Uchiha. Sasuke's got the same eyes as this guy does." Gaara explained vaguely.

"The same eyes?" Lee asked confused.

_Eyes seeking to prove the value of their own existence. _

Akki adjusted her boomerang, "He's been down there for a while…he has to come up for air sooner or later."

Just then Kimimaro's pale tattooed jutted out from the sand along with the rest of his tattooed deformed body. Much to their dislike, Kimimaro began to force his way out of the sand prison.

"That sure was a lot of pressure…if I hadn't grown a membrane a bone beneath my skin I would've been crushed."

"Too bad you weren't." Akki mutters.

"He really is a freak, isn't he?" Gaara remarked.

Lee hastily agreed, "He certainly is a nuisance."

"I underestimated you, but that is the last time I will be caught in your sand." Kimimaru declared.

"Akki…" Gaara whispered. He sent a nod in her direction.

Understanding the meaning Akki grabbed Lee by the back of his collar, catching him off guard, "Ah! What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Saving your butt." Akki replied simply as she dragged Lee a little ways away from Gaara's position.

When they were far enough away Gaara spread his legs apart slightly into a squat and with his hands, made a few rapid hand seals. The earth below them began to quiver as the sand and earth grinded and mixed together to make more and more sand to form a climbing sand wave. Gaara ended the final seal in a prayer position before calling out his attack, "Sand Tsunami!"

Much like an ocean wave sand began to climb higher and higher into a crescent shape the reached way over Kimimaro. As the wave of sand grew bigger there was actually a sense of panic in Kimimaro's eyes. Tried as he might, Kimimaro jumped around to avoid the on coming sand wave. All futile when the sand wave produced arms the batted and threw him around before completely engulfing him. But Kimimaro didn't want to go down easy as he fought his way to the surface of the wave. It was short lived when another wave came and buried him under. The waves of sand stretched out so far it near covered the entire grassy plains, knocking over a few trees as well.

"Y-you did it!" Lee stuttered, shaken up that Gaara completely changed the terrain of the battle field.

Gaara lowered his arms to complete the attack, "Not yet." He kneeled on one knee and slammed his hands into the sand. Using his chakra he sent out pulsating pressure waves throughout the sand, "Giant Sand Burial!"

The very earth shook under their feet again due to the tremendous force of chakra Gaara pumped into the ground. Lee stumbled to stay on his feet. "He is so powerful! He's even stronger than he was before…" When the attack came to an end, Lee breathed a sigh of relief, "…Well, surely this time…?"

"…..Why won't he give up…?" Gaara asked puzzled.

Lee looked at him in disbelief, "What?"

"This guy really dies hard." Akki growled when something popped out of the sand, something similar to a lizard tail, "What the heck is that?"

Not liking what was coming out of the sand; Gaara thrusts his arms out and willed the sand to shift in a whirlpool like manner around the freakishly transformed Kimimaro until he was engulfed in his Sand Coffin again.

However tried as he might to restrain him, Kimimaru broke free showing his new form. Kimimaro's appearance was similar to that of a dinosaur, with dark grey skin, six large bone spines protruding out of his back, and a long bone-spiked tail.

"He's coming!" Lee yelped, as Kimimaro came charging full speed like an angry bull.

Growling Gaara thrusts his left hand out and clenched it. A whip of sand sped towards Kimimaro who veered to the right to avoid the stream of sand.

Gaara didn't stop though; he continued the actions over and over until Kimimaro was getting too close for comfort. As a last minute effort Gaara tried to put up a sand wall and unfortunately he didn't have time to make it strong enough to hold Kimimaro back form his full on tackle that sent Gaara flying considerably far!

"Is that the best you can do with your so-called Ultimate Defense?" Kimimaro taunted, "I'm very disappointed."

Akki growled and swung her boomerang in front of her as a shield, "Alright then, let's see you can try to break through my bone."

"And don't forget that I'm here as well!" Lee yelled aiming a high jump kick to Kimimaro only to be swatted away by his tail.

Akki took the distraction and swung her boomerang full force to Kimimaro's right side to match bone with bone.

Growing a bone on his arm he took a powerful stab at her. Akki recoiled back to use her boomerang as a shield. The force of the two bones colliding caused her boomerang to crack some.

"Impressive." Akki smirked and she fended his bone off to swing at him again.

Kimimaro blocked it again and while she was distracted, he used his tail to smack her away from her similar to the way he did Lee. While air-born, Gaara willed his sand to soften her blow when she landed.

When Kimimaro saw that she survived he growled and turned his attention back to Gaara, "I'm getting tired of that sand!" He reached behind his head and pulled out something that shocked and disturbed the other Genin.

"Did he just pull out his spine?" Akki gasped in disgust.

"How is that possible?" Lee wondered.

"Clematis Dance: The Vine!" Kimimaro yelled whipping his spinal cord at Gaara.

As soon as the bone whip wrapped around Gaara, his sand surrounded him securely like a blanket.

"Then the Flower!" Kimimaro followed up as his entire forearm is encased in a giant drill made of bone. "This bone is my strongest! It will bore right through you -defenses and all!" He coughed up blood in the end.

Knowing he might have to pull out all the stops, Gaara gathered more sand and molded them around the spinal chain to create a chubby looking Shukaku with a hat. "Ultimate Defense: Shukaku Shield!"

Knowing that he doesn't have much choice Kimimaro attacked the shield with his bone drill. From Lee and Akki's point of view it looked to be a stalemate. Kimimaro was chucking away at sand but from their angle he couldn't be penetrating his shield, could he? The shield looked like it was giving away.

Luckily fate was on their side as they saw cracks form on Kimimaro's drill. Slowly it began to shatter from overpressure.

"It's so strong…!" Kimimaro admitted through gritted teeth.

"I took the hardest minerals in the earth I gathered and then I fused them in the sand using my chakra…" Gaara explained, "…tell me…that's a rather unusual jutsu…it's a Kekkei Genkai, right?"

"It belonged to the Kaguya…but now…it belongs to me and me alone!"

"You're the last of your clan, eh?" Gaara stated without much emotion. "Then you're clan perishes today."

There was a hint of a smile on Kimimaro's face, "That very well might be the case…my body has weakened it may not last much longer…however I will still live on because I am not alone…"

"You're not alone, you say?"

"That's right. My existence has been subsumed into Lord Orochimaru's ambition. That means a part of me will live on in Orochimaru's heart forever."

Gaara was unmoved by the speech as he formed a hand seal, "Orochimaru has brain-washed you well, you sad little pawn." He used the sand below Kimimaro's feet to hold him still while he willed his shield to morph into a hand to hold the spinal chain in place, _'I've had to put a lot of chakra into this battle…almost out of chakra…I better make this last bit count…!' _ He dispersed the sand around to use the sand in the ground to pull Kimimaro under into the giant sand pit.

"I will burry you 200 meters below the earth with pressure so great you won't be able to lift a finger. You'll be imprisoned there until the end of time." True to his words, Gaara used the last bit of his chakra to drag Kimimaro as far down underground as he could.

When the shifting sand came to a stop Lee quickly congratulates Gaara, "You did it! This time I'm certain of it!"

Gaara still had a sliver of doubt. Something was telling him that it still wasn't over.

…. "Dance…!" Kimimaro's voice echoed clearly under the sand causing Gaara to gasp in surprise. "…Bracken Dance!"

One by one at a rapid rate, spikes of bones shot up from the ground, completely surround Lee, Gaara, and Akki. At a last ditch effort Gaara called upon the last of his sand to make two small sand platforms for him, Akki, and Lee to kneel on as they remained afloat atop of the bone forest.

Feeling a small moment a peace Lee took the opportunity to thank the sand ninjas, "Thank you Gaara and Akki. You saved me again. These powers of yours are truly remarkable."

"Not really." Gaara panted brushing off the praise, "I barely made the sand do my bidding. It's second nature to me now."

Akki chuckled a bit, "Thank goodness for second nature. That was really a close one."

Gaara looked at the bone forest, "He was a tenacious opponent, but this time its over. He won't be bothering us again in this life."

"Yes, good." Lee said with relief.

With an uneasy breath, Gaara leaned over as sweat dripped from his chin, "My strength is gone…we must descend…"

"I am not his pawn!" Kimimaro declared from behind Gaara with his drill on the opposite hand, "He is the only one who gave my life meaning!" He took dead aim at Gaara, "How could the likes of you ever understand that?" He yelled as he brought his drill down to Gaara's face.

With no chakra left, Gaara couldn't even summon sand to defend himself, nor could Lee help- being on another platform, Akki scrambled to get her boomerang high enough to use the thickest part of her weapon to defend both her and Gaara. Luckily for them though, his disease gets the best of him at the last second and he dies before he can finish Gaara.

"He is dead…"

With heavy sighs of relief they finally relaxed and located somewhere to rest and recover. Lee guided them to a few trees that survived Gaara's tsunami attack. Finding a good spot, Lee plopped down. Assisting him with his gourd, Akki helped Gaara down before sitting down against a tree across from the boys.

After a moment of regaining their breaths Gaara spoke, "It was sheer luck. I should've been killed."

Akki shook her head, "You know I wouldn't have let that happen." She told him.

Lee agreed somewhat, "It wasn't meant to be. My sensei has often said to me: a good ninja always makes his own luck."

Gaara vaguely recalled Lee's teacher, "That meddlesome mother hen?"

Lee took offense to that, "Gai-Sensei is nothing of the sort! Yes, he stepped in but only that once and only because I was not yet strong enough! I am very grateful that you saved my life but I will warn you that I will not abide to anyone speaking ill of my sensei!"

After a moment Gaara spoke, "So you're another one, eh? You have someone in your life whom you honor and revere so much that every hurt inflicted on them is inflicted on you as well…and the closer they are to you the greater the pain…" He looked at Akki who was staring intently at him. Yes they understood that pain too well. "To feel so strongly about someone you would fight for them and die for them…you, Ryoko, Akki, and Naruto Uzumaki have that in common…"

Lee was unsure how to take that last part.

"However…what if the person you honor and even die for was not a virtuous person?" Gaara questioned as he looked at the sky.

"Impossible!" Lee denied immediately, "Such a person…would not be unworthy of honor or respect."

Gaara disagreed, "No…perhaps the companionship of even an evil person is preferable to loneliness…" He redirected his gaze back to Akki, "What do you think?"

Akki closed her eyes and allowed a soft smile to form on her face, "Hm, I think I agree with both your statements…however I am a little biased…" She looked at the sky as well, _'Loneliness is the worst kind of pain…sometimes people need people to be happy and to have a reason to live…they don't have to be a virtuous person to be honored or loved…'_

"We should get going…"


	34. Its all over

All during spring break I had a stupid cold that litterally kicked my butt and the medicine they had me on made me hallucinate like crazy. I was seeing things that weren't there. I never remember falling asleep anywhere. I fall asleep one place and wake up in another. (No i don't sleep walk. I like my bed very much)

©Masashi Kishimoto.

I've scratched and crumbled so many ideas! Okay originally I was going to have Ryoko come in right after Sasuke and Naruto's fight. Like as soon as Sasuke started walking away into the forest here comes Ryoko yelling at the top of her lungs and decks him right in the back of the head – knocking him out cold! She kicks him and abuses him until she felt satisfied. Then she magically found some rope – tied him up – and began to carry him back to the village. And then my friends said, "What about Naruto?"

Then I said, "Oh yeah, then Kakashi and Pakkun come in and whisk Naruto away to the Konoha hospital with Ryoko in tow. After a fitful recovery, Ryoko takes Sasuke and dumps him into a pit of raging fangirls and leaves him there. The end."

Needless to say I had them laughing but I don't think that the other fans would've liked it. The hate mail would increase even more. I would love to go back and correct the awful errors I constantly made back in earlier chapter but I can't. Maybe when the story is over **which will be soon! **

**This could be the last chapter or the next chapter could be the last one. I even realize i'm saying the forbidden words over and over and risking my life as well. But fear not Shippuden might be up. I also wanted to add filler chapters after this was done. For my own selfish needs the episode where Matsuri got kidnapped to show even more of Gaara's developing progress before writing out his arc...yeah, that's what i'll do...why are you reading me ramble? READ! Credits will be distributed at the end of the story.**

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As Ryoko ran through the forest and rocky terrain in search for Sasuke and Naruto she wondered if this sign of heavy rain was a foreshadowing sign. Over the course of her dashing she felt the chakra levels of Sasuke and Naruto sky rocket and deplete over and over that it excited her and worried her. There was no doubt that the two were beating the crap out of each other and she knew that they were surpassing her on many levels. Both boys had drive whereas she had determination to be there for everyone and help them.

The rain began to pound heavily against her as she jumped out of the trees and into a place known as the Valley of the End. It was close to the border of theLandofFireand theLandofSound. Two giant rock statues were built on opposite side of the water fall; one on the sound side and one on the fire side.

As she approached the waterfall she looked down below and her eyes widen in shock at what was unfolding in front of her. Both ninja charged at each other with their ultimate techniques crackling with power. These two powerful techniques collided, with red chakra coming from Naruto and blue chakra coming from Sasuke. There was an amazing clash of red and blue before they combined and made purple…then a white light appeared. A huge dark sphere formed and expanded, covering the waterfall, water pouring out from above and beneath. She could see Naruto and Sasuke hovering in the sphere gazing emptily at each other. Naruto used the remaining Rasengan to slash through Sasuke's headband. Sasuke took advantage of this act of compassion to strike Naruto in the stomach, knocking him out.

Ryoko felt too stunned to move. What had she just witnessed? All that power? Knowing they had it was one thing but actually seeing it…no way could she stand up to him. She wasn't Naruto; she didn't have any spectacular power to stop Sasuke.

Sasuke stared down at Naruto as his headband loosened and fell down beside Naruto. Rain began to pour down. Knowing that killing Naruto would not give him the power he wanted he began to walk towards the path that led to theSoundVillage.

He wasn't too far into the forest until he felt something hard collide with the back of his head. The force of the hit knocked him to his battered knees.

"You prick!" Ryoko yelled as she unleashed several punches at the injured Uchiha, "Why? Why would you do something like this?" She yelled turning her punches into weak slaps against his cheeks.

Sasuke did nothing to defend himself against her hits. He simply didn't have the energy…that and she was sitting on his waist.

"After everything everyone has been through you're still going to turn your back on everyone? Everyone risked their lives for you and you don't even care?" Tears began to stream from her eyes.

Sasuke stared at her emotionlessly; truthfully he hasn't seen her cry in so long.

"…Choji…Neji…Kiba…Shikamaru…Lee…Naruto…and me….worked so hard…to get to you…they could be dead and you're not even concerned for them!" She yelled slapping him across the face once more before she broke down and wept against his chest. Sasuke allowed her to…he was still going to leave. He was going to savor these last moments with her and remember her warmth. Ryoko was the only girl that he could tolerate. She understood him. She understood his sarcasm and if anything she knew how to dish it back. She didn't have to be strong like other kunoichi. She just had to be there…near him…

"…Ryoko…when you stop crying…I have a favor to ask…"

Sniffling, she sat back to wipe her tears that mixed with the rain, "What?"

"…Come closer…" He whispered weakly.

She did so until she was a breath away from him, "What?"

"…get stronger with Naruto…get as strong as you can possibly get…then….come fight me…I want a real battle against you…." He whispered to her.

Ryoko closed her eyes in defeat. What kind of honor would it be if she fought him right now? What real ninja would do that? What kind of person would she be if she allowed him to leave simply because… "….I will….everyone will hate me for letting you go like this…we swore to bring you back…but would I feel like I earned it bringing you back in such a pitiful state?" She wondered if she was doing the right thing.

"...thank you…" he whispered.

She pulled back slightly, "I know I'm going to regret this…"

"…before you get off me…" He said stopping her from moving away too much, "…I have one more favor…"

Ryoko leaned in again, "What is it?"

"…one last kiss…"

She looked down at him. Her hair stuck to the sides of her face as rain drops rolled off of her nose and landed on Sasuke's face. Her hand moved and wiped the rain drop off of his face. Their eyes were locked on each other and one of his hands came up and covered hers where it was on his face. Now they were both searching each other's eyes. His touch felt perfect as he slowly ran the hand that had captured her on his face up her arm and rested on her shoulder. Slowly Sasuke lifted his head off of the ground. As his face neared hers, she only felt Sasuke's touch, not the rain that was falling around them.

When Sasuke's face was a fraction of an inch away from hers, he spoke in a whisper. "…Remember what you promised me…"

"…I promise…"

He closed the distance between them.

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Kakashi arrived at the Valley of the End to see Naruto lying unconscious on the ground with a scratched headband next to him. Kakashi walked over to Naruto and looked at him before putting him on his back.

"I'm sorry I didn't make it in time…you must've gave it your all…"

"Ironic for Naruto and Sasuke to fight at the Valley of the End." Pakkun said.

"Yeah…like the river…it goes on forever…like an epic battle…" Before he turned to leave he vaguely saw Ryoko coming out of the forest.

When she stepped out of the forest and saw Kakashi she lowered her head in shame, "He crossed the border..." When Kakashi didn't say anything she lowered her head even more, "I'm sorry…I failed…"

"Having everyone alive is more important than bringing Sasuke back." Pakkun told her blankly.

"Yeah…" Both Kakashi and Ryoko agreed monotone. But it still felt like a loss.

Slowly as the rain began to stop and the sun began to shine through again, they made their way back to the village.

After they began their journey back to the village medical nin joined them on their way back so they couldn't have been too far from the village. They began to ask about everyone's condition before they informed them the condition of the other genin. Kakashi, Ryoko, and Naruto's heart sank when they heard they Lady Hokage dispatched an emergency squad to pick everyone up. It was scary to wonder how badly injured everyone was. Ryoko hated that she wasn't much of help; she just had small wounds from Kimimaru and chakra exhaustion. Thanks to the Nine tailed fox's chakra Naruto's injuries were healing themselves so he would be okay too.

But how much okay….?

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Alright everyone. Send lots of love to the Land of the Rising Sun aka Japan and help out in anyway you can! Give blood, give clothes, give anything you don't want or do want to help them out! Don't give food that spoils! Save the Asians!


	35. When one door closes another one opens

©Masashi Kishimoto.

Internet at long last! Who knows for how long but i take what i can get! Here's the final chapter and Shippuden is right around the corner. There's so much that I want to thank everyone for. For staying with me up to this point and helping making it all the way through to the end, even when the chapters were a mess people still stuck it out with me. It took a lot of energy to type every one of them out. Even when my computer was damaged and my internet connections were gone and all I had was my phone to hang onto. A special thanks to Princesa de la Luna for checking up on me every now and then and making sure that I remember to update my stories. Don't worry, it's on my mind every day and I feel bad that I can't get them out fast enough.

**P.S: For GaaraxAki fans, there will be more fluff for them in the Shippuden arc.**

**P.S.S: Naruto Shippuden Arc will be in a different fic. You smart people will know when you see it!**

Song of my day...I don't know if it is a song but I watched the video cause it had one of my favorite actors in it. The Youtube title is Nagayama Takashi bailando ParaPara

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It was scary sitting in the waiting room of the ICU watching all the nurses and doctors rush about tending to the major injuries that the young Genin sustained on their mission. Ryoko kicked herself repeatedly for coming out of the mission unscathed while the others were fighting for their lives. She even came out less than what Shikamaru had. A broken finger.

_'I'm such a failure...'_ She sighed slouching against the wall while rubbing her temple.

She heard soft footsteps approach her and a plastic cup filled with green liquid lined her vision of the white floor. She looked up to see that Aki was the one holding the cup. "You look like you need this." She said forcing the cup in her hand, "It's Hi-potion. It'll give you your strength back." She explained before leaning against the wall next to her.

"I do need a perk up." Ryoko mutters before taking a sip. However when the liquid hit her tongue with a bitter tang she spits it out into the cup, "ugh! Bitter!"

Aki chuckled, "But it made you feel better didn't it?"

Ryoko sets her cup down near her foot, "I'll let you know when I can feel my tongue again."

Aki giggled even more, "Sorry, sorry"

They fell into a short pause before Ryoko spoke, "The mission was a fail. It's my fault that I let him get away..."

"I'm sure you had your reasons…not all missions can end in success…"

"I like him." Ryoko confessed bravely, "He's such a strong passionate shinobi. Yeah, he annoyed the heck out of me at times, but there's something about Sasuke…not his looks but his…fire…" Ryoko explained vaguely, struggling to find the words to convey her feelings, "I just keep kicking myself because…what was I thinking letting him go after everything everyone went through to get him? Where's my village pride? I basically betrayed my village because I allowed him to leave…!"

"You weren't thinking…" Aki supplied, "You let your feelings rule your judgment and now everyone has to pay the price for your actions..."

"I know..." Ryoko grimaced.

"However...I think you did something good..." Ryoko looked at her, surprised that she was kind of taking her side. "By letting Sasuke go...I think you've made your friends stronger on this mission. Everyone took some hard hits but I think they've matured. And as for your blonde hair friend..." Aki flashed a kind smile, "…not only does he have his Hokage goal to work hard for - he has the goal to get his friend back. This challenge will make him stronger..." She then gave her an all-knowing look, "…You too as well…"

Ryoko looked at her with admiration before looking down at her feet. Looking back, she realized that she may need to work on improving herself. She knew long ago that she was not on the same level as Naruto and Sasuke…they were way out of her league. But she would now use her time wisely to improve herself. She would take new challenges to make her, Naruto, and Sasuke proud to be a shinobi.

"I realize that I've been a tag-along on missions, only providing help when needed. I want to become someone who can throw the punches as well and help others…" Ryoko whispers, determination setting into her eyes, "I've got some work to do."

Aki smiled encouragingly, "You're growing up already." She stated nodding approvingly, "…I've got some work to do myself…"

Ryoko looked at her confused, "What do you mean? You seem plenty strong to me already…"

Aki looked down the hall to the left of Ryoko. She could see Gaara quietly approaching them. "Nope…I still have a long way to go before I can proudly stand by the side of the one I want to protect the most…"

Before Ryoko could question her further, Gaara had reached them and informed them that Lady Tsunade was about to give everyone the report on the Genin. Not wasting anytime they made their way back to the emergency room where they had administer the rest of the wounded Genin.

Everyone waited eagerly to the status report.

Tsunade leisurely walked passed them all to sit down on the cushioned benches, "Choji is okay thanks to the medicine from the Nara clan…Kiba is making a full recovery along with Akamaru…Neji Hyuuga is out of the danger zone and is making a steady recovery…and Naruto is also making a steady recovery, he was badly damaged but his life is not in danger.." He pointed a steady look at Shikamaru and Ryoko, "The mission was a fail, but everyone came out alive. That's all I could ask for."

Everyone gave small sighs of relief that their friends were not in mortal danger of dying.

"The next mission will be perfect. I swear." Ryoko and Shikamaru promised.

The next day Ryoko almost sped back to the hospital, leaving a trail of dirt dust in her wake. She was determined to see Naruto so she could apologize to him properly about failing the mission. He was the only one allowed to have visitors due to his quick recovery, but he still had to stay in the hospital for a while longer.

After word got out about the mission, many took the loss hard (the fan girls) because they lost a valuable shinobi. Sakura took it especially hard. The girl couldn't stop moping or sobbing. Not even her visit with Naruto cheered her up to any degree. Ryoko couldn't bring herself to talk to her, it made the guilt worse, but she swore to herself that she would bring Sasuke back for the village's sake.

Upon reaching Naruto's room, she was mildly surprised to see Lady Tsunade there waiting at the door.

"Lady Hokage…"

"Ryoko…I have a proposal for you…"

Hearing the sound of his room door open, Naruto immediately looked up to see who could be visiting him. He was greeted by Ryoko and Tsunade. Shame settled into his heart. He felt like he let everyone down by not giving it his all to bring Sasuke back. He heard from both Shikamaru and Sakura that Ryoko was last to see Sasuke and that even she couldn't stop him.

"Ryoko…" His voice wavered as he looked up at her before looking down and the scratched headband lying on his lap. Sasuke's headband…during their great battle the metal plate had a long scratch running through the leaf symbol. It was similar to ex-shinobi who crosses out the symbol of their village on their headbands.

Ryoko quietly walked over and sat on the edge of Naruto's bed, not quiet facing him yet, and said softly, "Naruto…I'm sorry I let you down…"

Naruto's head quickly snapped up and looked at her with disbelief, "N-no Ryoko! I was the one - "

Ryoko firmly shook her head, "No. You fought with everything you had Naruto…I was just the back up…and even then I let Sasuke get away. I let him get away because I wasn't strong enough to hold him back…"

"Ryoko…"

Ryoko turned her body so she could face him fully. She gave him a cheesy grin that he often gave others when making a big promise, "I'm making you a promise of a life time, Naruto! I'm going to work hard to help you get Sasuke back!" She jumped up from the bed and pumped one fist in the air, "BELIEVE IT!"

It took a moment for her words to sink in, but Naruto felt better by her words, "Hey! That's my catchphrase and my pose! You can't steal that!"

"Too bad, bro! I'm borrowing it until I can make my own pose and catchphrase!"

Later that day Ryoko went to Lady Tsunade's office just as she had requested earlier on before they went in to see Naruto. She thought about her proposal for a while and decided to take in on with everything she had.

"So…have you come to a decision?" Tsunade asked when Ryoko stepped into her office.

Ryoko stood in the middle of the room, her form poised with confidence and determination, "Yes. I accept the mission." She bowed at the waist. "I know it won't be easy, but I won't give up."

Tsunade studied her for a long moment. _'She does seem to have the drive and potential…I'll have to test her resolve before anything else…'_

"Alright. Three days from now. We'll start the test to see if you're ready."

Ryoko rose back to her full height with a confident smile, "Yes, ma'am!"

Three days later….at the village gates, the young kids from the Konoha academy were saying good-bye to the sand ninja.

"Thank you very much and see you again soon!" They all said in perfect unison.

"Alright, kids, keep training." Temari told them.

"I'm going to learn the shuriken jutsu by the time you get back!" Konohamaru stated confidently.

Aki nodded encouragingly, "I'm sure you will."

"I'm going to be as strong as Kankuro and Gaara-sensei!" The boys cheered.

"I want to be like Aki and Temari when I get older!" The girls gushed.

Aki smiled fondly at them, "We're very honored to hear that, everyone."

"Thanks again, sorry you guys had to help out instead of seeing the sights because we're short of staff." Shikamaru said.

"I don't mind. It was a good chance to help out." Temari said.

"And besides, it was a good chance to evaluate Konoha's military power since these kids are going to be future shinobi." Kankuro chipped in.

"I guess you guys better be careful on getting home." Shikamaru said, knowing that it was going to be a three day trip back for them. It was surprising they got to them as fast as they did.

"Okay, thanks." All of them but Gaara waved good-bye to them and made their way back home. Before they were too far out of ear shot, Temari turned around slightly, "Just call the next time you need saving, ya big cry baby."

Shikamaru sighed, "You girls are all alike. You've gotta have the last word in."

As they walked further away Aki turned to Gaara with a small smile, "I heard that Naruto is going away for three years to train with Jiraiya, the Toad Sage…looks like you're going to have some competition Gaara…"

Gaara closed his eyes and gave a soft chuckle, "If Naruto's working hard to get stronger….then I will work hard as well…"

"Have you realized your goal, then?" She asked him.

Gaara nodded, "It's a goal I'm willing to struggle for…"

Ryoko sat in her apartment packing up the last of her things. She had already said good-bye to everyone and she was going to meet Naruto at the gates before he sets off for his 3 year training. It was bitter-sweet that they were going their separate ways for a while. Naruto even choked up a bit because they hadn't been apart since their academy days…it seemed so long ago. It felt like the team was breaking up. She had briefly wondered how Kakashi-sensei was feeling about all of it…his students were stepping out of the team to do their own training to get stronger in their own way.

_'I'm sure he'll be fine…it's only going to be three years…' _She assured herself as she zipped up her back pack and hoisted it onto her back with ease. "Okay. Time to go."

She walked to the front door of her apartment and took one last look back before closing the door behind her, as if she was closing the door to her past behind her.

_'Being the top rookie female ninja in my class was just a title…it didn't really mean anything to me…I haven't really changed at all since my academy days…I don't have amazing abilities like Naruto or Sasuke…but that didn't stop me from lending support when I could. I may have been extra weight but I was still important to missions…'_

As she passed Ichiraku's shop, the old man poked his head out when he thought he saw a familiar face, "Ah, Ryoko, going on a mission are you?"

Ryoko turned around and smiled at the ramen man, "Something like that. Did Naruto already leave?"

"You just missed him a minute ago. I'm sure you can still catch him."

Ryoko nodded and waved good-bye, "Okay, see yo-"

"Now hold on a minute," he interrupted going into his ramen shop for one moment and coming out the next with a bento box, "something for the trip." He explained, "On the house." He said giving her the bento box.

Ryoko smile and bowed gratefully, "Thanks, old man." She turned on her heel and continued on her way to the village gates with a better attitude now.

_'…but now…I'm going to become something more…I'm not going to fall behind anymore…I'm going to start living up to my name…I'm going to be a new and strong Ryoko Koneko…Naruto…Iruka-sensei…old man Hokage…grandma Tsunade…Kakashi-sensei…Aki…Gaara…everyone…even Sasuke…just wait…in three years…I'm going to help make a difference…_

"How long do we have to keep waiting, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked impatiently, "We need to put some road behind us."

"I'm waiting for Ryoko to come say good-bye, pervy-sage!" Naruto yelled, "I'm not going anywhere until she gets here!"

Ryoko chuckled and put a little more speed in her steps, "Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto looked up to see Ryoko running over to him waving, "About time you came!" He exclaimed with a bright smile, "So you're ready to go too?"

Ryoko nodded, "Yeah, but I'm going a different way. I'm actually supposed to go to the east gate…I came to say see ya later."

Naruto blushed uncomfortably and scratched his cheek, "Hey, c'mon, Ryoko…no need to get all mushy on me. You'll see, three years will be over quick!" he exclaimed giving her a thumbs up.

Ryoko nodded, "Yeah, I know…I just want to get one last look at that stupid face of yours before I go." She joked as she glomped him in a tight hug.

Naruto returned the embrace after a short few moments. He was going to miss his friend dearly. She was the only other person that accepted him without question or complaint. He was forever grateful that she was his friend and he valued all the times and moments they had together, "You make it sound like I'm not coming back…"

Ryoko pulled away with a bright smile, "Of course you're coming back! I said 'see ya later' not 'good-bye'. Besides you're going to be Hokage, so you _have_ to come back!"

Naruto also treasured the fact that she believed in him in the fact that he will be Hokage some day, "Yeah..."

After a brief moment of silence and the gentle breeze that swept their hair, they shook hands and made a silent promise to each other: They will be back stronger than ever before.

"Good luck, Naruto…"

"You too, Ryoko…"

_Just wait…in three years…we'll change…we won't be weak anymore…we'll break through the obstacles in our way…we'll bash any doubt in our minds…and continue to run forward…we won't anything stand in our way or let anything hold us back from our dreams and our goals…just wait…we'll be back…Believe it…believe it with all your heart…_

THE END.

Credits:

ShadowShinobi18

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